We live in an era of unprecedented social activism. The past few years have highlighted this with movements like Black Lives Matter, Stop AAPI Hate, LGBTQ rights demonstrations, anti-oil and pro-climate protests, boycotts for pay equity across genders, and many more.
As consumers become more vocal, they also increasingly expect that the brands they shop from be mission-aligned with the causes they care about. McKinsey found in a survey that 61% of respondents across all generations want brands to take action on societal issues; for Millennials and Gen Zs, this increases to 76%.
"Beam is a company streamlining alignment between consumers, brands, and social causes. Beam has built infrastructure that allows brands to share a portion of every transaction with a non-profit that a consumer chooses. Everyone wins."
But for brands, it’s hard to build mission alignment into their business models. Sure, a brand can make a one-off donation to a cause. But doing more–and doing more consistently–is an intensive use of resources that distracts from the core business of making and selling products that consumers want.
Beam in action - selecting a non-profit at checkout while shopping at MATE the Label.
Beam is a company streamlining alignment between consumers, brands, and social causes. Beam has built infrastructure that allows brands to share a portion of every transaction with a non-profit that a consumer chooses. Everyone wins. Consumers get to further the cause they care about. Brands unlock a more loyal customer. And non-profits grow their contributor base and deepen that relationship post-purchase.
The Beam experience when shopping on the clothing store Aday.
Beam has innovated on a seamless product and a fair business model that allow the company to power giving for iconic brands like Instacart, IKEA, Roots, Parade, and many others. In aggregate, these brands are driving millions of dollars of contributions to non-profits like the California Wildfire Restoration Fund and Black Girls Do STEM. And at the same time, brands see a strong return on investment by using Beam.
Beam closes the loop. After a consumer ends their purchase journey, they're reminded of how they contributed to an important, brand-aligned cause, shown here for swimwear brand Frankie Collective.
We’ve been most impressed by the people behind Beam. Viveka Hulyalkar and Alex Sadhu are as mission-driven as founders come. After running and managing their own non-profits, Viveka and Alex realized there needed to be a better way for non-profits to scale their impact. Beam was built in that vision. Viveka and Alex are remarkable operators and missionaries, and we couldn’t be more excited to be in business with them.
"In Beam, we see a unique business that is becoming the connective tissue between for-profit businesses and non-profits."
In Beam, we see a unique business that is becoming the connective tissue between for-profit businesses and non-profits. From what we've learned, it's clear that Beam represents a rare win-win-win between consumers, brands, and non-profits. We believe it's a matter of time before Beam is ubiquitous across a majority of e-commerce transactions, and we’re excited to be leading Beam’s Series A.
Beam is hiring across all functions. If you’re interested in joining Beam, or if you’re a brand interested in using Beam, visit beamimpact.com.
Published — April 14, 2022
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