Jessica Alba arrives in Boston to plug Honest.com, her eco-friendly baby products start-up

By Michael B. Farrell, Globe Staff

Actress Jessica Alba came to Cambridge on Tuesday to talk diapers.

The 31-year-old Fantastic Four actress recently added tech entrepreneur to her resume when she cofounded The Honest Co., a new e-commerce site focused around selling biodegradable diapers.

She was in Harvard Square for General Catalyst Partners annual gathering of companies in the venture capital firms portfolio. General Catalyst led a $27 million round of funding in March for Albas company. Alba, who is president of the Honest Co., was the keynote speaker at the event, which drew hundreds of entrepreneurs and investors to The Charles Hotel.

The Honest Co. will use the funding from General Catalyst to expand its line of products that include organic baby oil and chemical-free laundry detergent. The company, which launched in January, manufactures all of the products it sells through Honest.com.

Alba, a mother of two girls, reportedly started the company after having a difficult time finding environmentally-friendly products for her young children. She teamed up with Los Angeles entrepreneur Brian Lee, who also founded the e-commerce site ShoeDazzle with reality TV star Kim Kardashian, to launch the company.

The overwhelmingly positive response we have received since our recent launch has shown us we need to continue dedicating time and resources to further develop our Honest brand and community, said Alba in a statement.

General Catalyst nor Alba responded to requests for further comment.

The actress joins a growing number of Hollywood celebrities who are getting into the tech business. Ashton Kutcher, who invested in the social networking site Foursquare and the photo sharing app Path, recently co-founded a venture capital firm, A-Grade Investments. Last year, singer Justin Timberlake became a part owner of the social media site Myspace.

General Catalyst, which also has an office in Palo Alto, Calif., has had some recent success. Two local co! mpanies that the firm invested in -- Demandware Inc. of the Burlington and Brightcove Inc. of Boston -- went public earlier this year. Some of its other investments include Airbnb, the San Francisco Web company that lets users book rooms in private homes, and HubSpot Inc., a Cambridge marketing software company.

Michael B. Farrell can be reached at michael.farrell@globe.com.