E-commerce Platform Corso Raises $1 Million in Pre-seed Round of Funding
Investment will help Corso address its two primary missions of offsetting the carbon footprint of customers and providing hassle-free, guaranteed product deliveries.
Corso, a new e-commerce platform designed to help merchants and consumers protect against lost, stolen or damaged shipments and simultaneously reduce their carbon footprint, announced today the raising of $1 million in pre-seed funding.
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Two primary missions of Corso—co-headquartered in San Clemente, California, and St. George, Utah—are offsetting the carbon footprint of customers and providing hassle-free, guaranteed product deliveries. Currently available for merchants to download on the Shopify App Store, customers can purchase Corso’s Green Shipping Protection™ service at checkout, for about 2% of their total order, assuring their delivery arrives and offsetting 100% of the carbon associated with last-mile shipping.
The $1 million pre-seed funding was invested by Darin Moon, cofounder and president of Redox, one of the leading agricultural companies in the nation. Redox is based out of Burley, Idaho. The funding will be used to help Corso hire, go to market and scale its business.
Another overriding mission of the company is to lessen the burden on e-commerce merchants by handling issues associated with carrier mishandling and porch pirates. In the case of a stolen or lost package, Corso acts as an extension of the merchant’s support team to help resolve the issue at no additional charge.
“As we enter this next phase, we’re excited to truly be able to help merchants by removing some of the worry and frustration involved with potential delivery problems,” said Nathan Usher, Corso cofounder and CEO. “We will definitely be making their lives easier from an operational standpoint. Our main objective is to help our merchants, and we will always take a ‘merchant first’ approach.”
From lost or damaged shipments to porch pirates, there are many things that can go wrong with deliveries. Corso makes those worries disappear.
“When it comes to shipping protection, Corso will be a strong offering for merchants,” said Paul Bartholomew, cofounder. “ If any problems occur with a delivery, the Corso concierge will provide support and find a resolution in the form of a new item or refund as soon as possible. This is huge for merchants who are short-staffed during holidays. It also greatly helps the consumer to get the items they originally ordered without having to deal with a carrier claim.”
Corso calculates customers’ carbon footprint based on the last mile of delivery and the cost to offset it at checkout. Customers can opt in to have 100% of carbon emissions associated with the order offset. Corso has partnered with nonprofit Cool Effect, one of the largest carbon offset companies in the United States, to receive the sustainability funds allocated by the transaction.
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“We have a shared focus in wanting to be at the forefront on issues pertaining to our impact on the environment, advances in sustainability and farming,” Moon said, explaining his $1 million investment. “Carbon offsets are important to our industry and future.”
Prior to co-founding Corso, Usher and Bartholomew worked together at DealerSocket. Usher held various roles at DealerSocket, from leading the product team and developing multiple product verticals to strategic partnerships and eventually becoming the vice president of operations. Before starting Corso, Usher was the executive vice president at American Logistics.
In addition to his time at DealerSocket, Bartholomew has held various growth positions at Podium and Alleva. He has an extensive e-commerce background, helping scale e-commerce brands to successful exits. Bartholomew started his career working in third-party logistics and helping small- to mid-sized brands take on an omnichannel approach, integrating their products to the likes of Rakuten, Amazon, Shopify and Overstock.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to help merchants when it comes to last-mile delivery issues,” said Usher, “and help customers and consumers to be more sustainably minded by offsetting 100% of their carbon at checkout.”
