GoodGuide Gets $5.5m Series B and Launches Barcode Scanning for Good

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-11-30 11:06:00 UTC
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Imagine you're in a store looking for shampoo. Your remember hearing something somewhere about a harmful additive in one of the brands, but can't remember which is which. In need of better information, you whip out your iPhone, scan the barcode of your favorite brand, and get a full independent assessment of the product in terms of health, environmental impact, and the company's social commitment.

With the release of the new GoodGuide application for iPhone, this scenario has become a reality. The application comes in tandem with the public announcement of a $5.5 million Series B funding round from Physic Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and New Island Capital. 

GoodGuide has been around for a while, providing impartial reviews of companies and products based on health, environmental and social factors. They've even had an iPhone application for on-the-go lookups.

Still, the difference in convenience of a consumer having to type in a product name and wade through possible matches vs. scanning a barcode and having it all there is night and day. This shift could significantly increase the usage of GoodGuide's tools.

If the primary benefit to consumers will initially be the significant increase in the ease of accessing information about the products they wish to buy at point of sale, the shift also gives GoodGuide an incredible ability to collect and compile real time data about what products consumers care about and are interested in. I would imagine that their eventual financial strategy includes selling access to some part of this data, as well as using it to deliver deals and specials to consumers hungry for more health, safe, sustainable products.

This is a big deal for the evolution of social and environmental transparency in our markets. Perhaps even more, I think it is a leading indicator of the financial viability of easing and accelerating the shift towards more sustainable markets.

I've long thought that convenience - even more than price - was the biggest barrier for wide acceptance of a different type of consumption. GoodGuide is building the infrastructure for overcoming that hurdle, and it's great to see they've got serious resources behind them.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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