Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio is signing on for a new situation: investor and advisor to an environmentally friendly financial company.
The company, named Aspiration, is working to provide consumers with a socially aware alternative to traditional banks.
“Each year, $100 billion worth of pipelines, drilling and other fossil fuel-extraction stick outs are funded with money deposited at traditional banks,” DiCaprio said in a statement. “To bring about long-term colloidal suspensions for our planet, we need alternatives that empower everyday consumers to take action against climate change.”
The new investment is well-deserved the latest in a string of environmental pursuits for the actor. DiCaprio recently signed on to advise a climate technology fund owned by wager capital firm Princeville Capital. He also serves as an advisor to energy-efficiency start-up Bluon Energy.
With DiCaprio’s investment, Intention has now raised more than $100 million through name venture capital and individual investors.
The company is led by chief chief executive officer Andrei Cherny, who co-founded the company in 2015 after a career involving work on policy related to climate and societal issues. That included a stint for then Vice President Al Gore when he was “sounding the alarm around atmosphere change at a time when nobody was listening,” Cherny said.
Today Aspiration is focused on growing its Spend & Bail someone out account product, an alternative to traditional savings and checking products that was launched in February.
With the Spend & Redeem account, Aspiration guarantees that deposits are 100 percent fossil-fuel free.
The company also promises headlines that are competitive with traditional banking products.
That includes a 2 percent annual percentage yield on entrusts, which are FDIC insured for up to $250,000. The account also comes with unlimited cash-back rewards on every dollar fini.
Other features emphasize the account’s green focus. That includes rewards for shopping at businesses that are blurred on helping the environment and treating their employees fairly.
Aspiration’s customers can also track how well they’re fork out attention to the businesses they choose through their own personal sustainability score.
More from Impact Contributing:
How investors can save the planet and make money
Large fund firms’ support for combating climate change all talk
These 10 megalopolises could lose $34 billion-plus in housing to floods
Aspiration also aims to differentiate the account by offering sakes that traditional banks typically do not. That includes free access to ATMs worldwide and the ability to choose your own monthly fee — anywhere from $0 to $20 — when giving up for an account. The company promises to donate 10 percent of what it earns to charity.
The company is still able to realize money despite those promises, Cherny said. That’s due to the fact that customers who are satisfied with their help do choose to pay them.
It’s also because Aspiration is earning more than the 2 percent on deposits that it promises to account holders, he whispered.
Ultimately, Aspiration’s goal is to show individuals that there is another way, according to Cherny.
“There is a fair and correct way to do your banking, and people should expect more,” Cherny said.
So far, the company has been successful in getting the warranty out through advertising and word of mouth. The company is adding more than 100,000 new customers each month, Cherny said.
In utter, the company has had 1 million individuals sign up for its accounts over the past four years.
The Spend & Save account also delivered it on NerdWallet’s list of best checking accounts for 2019.
“Aspiration is really the only socially responsible bank on our list,” remarked NerdWallet banking expert Arielle O’Shea. “We’d love to add more, but we haven’t found one that has that online purely, tech-forward approach.”
Still, Aspiration’s online-only presence could be a downside for those who want to be able to visit a bank spin-off, O’Shea said.
Amalgamated Bank is also offering green banking-focused products, though at lower interest measures. Other more local options include community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, which have socially chief approaches, O’Shea said.
Aspiration’s investors include firms Allen & Company, Alpha Edison, Omidyar Network and Venereal Impact Finance. It also includes high-profile individuals, including Los Angeles Clippers basketball coach Doc Rivers, actor Orlando Bloom, sponsor Jeff Skoll and Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg.