Pittsburgh Today Live’s Mikey Hood visits Ambridge where they are making an environmentally-friendly alternative to peat moss. It’s called Pitt Moss and it’s great for your garden.
PittMoss announces new equity crowd-funding campaign through Republic
PittMoss, made from recycled paper, is more efficient, effective, environmentally-friendly than conventional peat-based potting soils
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA—March 8, 2021: PittMoss, the “Shark Tank”-invested maker of the world’s most environmentally-friendly potting soil, is announcing a new equity crowd-investing campaign through Republic (republic.co/pittmoss), where the public can own part of the company.
This $300,000 campaign will enable smaller investors to become a part of this startup success story, which is disrupting the old and dirty market of peat-based potting soils. Their previous campaign through Republic, which closed on Aug. 16, raised $237,107, which was 948% of their goal. It can be found at http://rep.pub/invest-pittmoss.
Until the Republic campaigns, PittMoss was only able to accept money from accredited high-net-worth investors.
“A lot of our fans have seen us on Shark Tank,’ and they’re like, ‘Man, I’d love to invest along with Mark Cuban and the sharks,’ says PittMoss president Brian Scott. “So now this is an opportunity to allow them to do it, and I know we’re going to have a lot of customers excited about doing it.”
PittMoss is made from recycled paper in a factory in Ambridge, PA, outside Pittsburgh (hence the name PittMoss). Last year, the company grew at a 41% rate. PittMoss is unique in that it’s a triple-bottom-line company.
“It’s got a positive social impact, environmental impact, and financial impact. You’re investing in a company that does good,” says Scott.
The carbon emissions from a typical bag of soil (most are 2 cubic feet) are similar to burning 22 lbs. of coal. Most peat moss is dug up in peat bogs in Canada and trucked south—and it’s an ecological catastrophe.
“I believe in doing as little harm to the planet as possible,” says Value-Add investor Paul Straub. “I had no idea how harmful peat mining was. and I really like that PittMoss is working to reduce the amount of fibrous waste.”
“Peat bogs sequester more carbon than all of the forests on the entire planet,” explains Scott. “They’re a massive carbon sink. The UN has identified elimination or reduction of peat mining as one of their top 10 carbon reduction priorities for the world.”
“We’re diverting paper waste from the landfill and turning it into soils, basically,” says Scott. “We use lightly processed paper, like newsprint, coloring books, mail ads, magazines, some office paper, as well as cardboard and cardboard dust. If you looked at our factory, every day we get USA Today, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal.”
“We are using a broader array of feedstock to prevent more and more cellulose fiber from being landfilled. Our vision is to have a hyper-local model in every major market to recycle local waste and distribute it locally as a soil.”
PittMoss calculates that in 2020, its products prevented 81,111 cubic feet of peat moss from being extracted, which equates to the reduction of 811.11 metric tons of C02 emissions. That equals: 893,737 pounds of coal burned, or 91,269 gallons of gasoline consumed, or 2,012,680 miles driven by an average passenger vehicle.
Annually, PittMoss gives each customer an Environmental Savings Certificate,” which displays their calculation and certifies a specific number of metric tons of C02 emissions they’ve avoided that year.
It also just works better than conventional products. Plants grow more substantial root systems and also absorb nutrients better.
“PittMoss is an important improvement over our previously-used products” says Value-Add Investor Joyce A. Mitchell. PittMoss yields better results and is Earth-friendly. Repurposing waste will give Mother Nature a helping hand.”
Although they had more than 1,000 investors in the last campaign, many people who wanted to invest in PittMoss were still left out. And others who had previously invested wanted to do it again. So, they decided a new campaign was in order. It begins today, March 8, 2021
“In this crowdfunding round, all investment levels receive free PittMoss product and equity in the
business, so it’s a great opportunity for passionate gardeners and loyal followers to support a
local company growing bigger and healthier plants and improving the planet” said Scott.
There’s also a gift for every investor in the Republic campaign.
PittMoss® manufactures revolutionary products from organic, recycled paper. Carefully and locally sourced, our products are the result of decades-long research into the use of recycled paper fibers. The result? The best performing, most environmentally-friendly gardening mixes on the market that also require less water! Find out more at pittmoss.com
About Republic
Founded in 2016, Republic operates under U.S. equity crowdfunding regulations and is under the supervision of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. For additional information, please visit www.republic.co, @joinrepublic, and www.facebook.com/joinrepublic
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