Software Funding: Connect Earth Raises $5.6M; Promotes Carbon Data for Sustainable Finance

Connect Earth has raised $5.6 million in seed funding to further promote carbon data software tools for sustainable finance.

Connect Earth, founded in 2021, is based in London, England. The company had 16 employees listed on LinkedIn as of March 2023.

Connect Earth develops carbon tracking API (application programming interface) technology. Target customers include financial institutions that want to offer customers "transparent insight into the climate impact of their daily spending and drives sustainable finance."

The funding round was led by Gresham House Ventures with participation from Love Ventures, Global Brain and its CVC partner The Norinchukin Bank, Portfolio Ventures, Super Capital and strategic angel investors. Existing investors such as Market One Capital, Mustard Seed MAZE and Venista Ventures joined the round as well.

The new funding will enable Connect Earth to "scale faster within Europe and support our expansion into the US, where we already work with financial institutions and strategic partners. With this new investment, we will be able to focus on executing a significant pipeline of opportunities including blue chip names."

Connect Earth: Early Partnerships Include SAP

Connect Earth's website did not appear to promote a partner program as of March 2023. But the API technology suggests multiple third-party software and system integrations are under development. Moreover, early partners include Thought Machine, Q2 and SAP, the startup said.

Among the relationships to watch: Connect Earth's Connect Hub dataset -- featuring with Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data on thousands of companies -- became available on the Data Marketplace for SAP Data Warehouse Cloud in January 2023.

On a related note, Connect Earth participates in the SAP BTP Startup Program, an SAP.iO startup accelerator program. The program supports startups in leveraging the strengths of SAP BTP and turning data into business value. Additionally, Connect Earth participates in a program focused on carbon accounting at SAP.iO Foundry Tel Aviv, which supports businesses that use SAP technology on their journey to Net Zero. 

Seed Funding: Executive Perspectives

In a prepared statement about the seed funding, Connect Earth Co-Founder and CEO Alexander Lempka said: “Decarbonisation initiatives in the financial sector are growing rapidly which is why we need to further scale our product offering to help financial institutions measure and reduce the emissions of their customers. This funding round enables us to exponentially increase our impact globally.”

Added Nick Carmont, co-founder and CTO at Connect Earth: “We are planning to launch several new products that will break down the barriers to accessing environmental data and tools. We aim to bring carbon footprint data into the daily lives of millions of people so that environmental action becomes widely accessible.”

Noted Benjamin Faulkner, associate director at Gresham House Ventures: “The financial sector has historically lacked the infrastructure to support sustainable finance in a tangible way. Connect Earth is solving two significant issues for financial institutions. Firstly, facilitating products and features that provide end-users insights into their carbon footprint improves customer acquisition, engagement, and retention. Secondly, extensive regulatory tailwinds such as TCFD and SFDR require financial institutions to materially improve disclosure of their carbon footprints across value chains.”

Added Zixin Pan, associate director at Gresham House Ventures: “Alex and Nick impressed us with their clear vision, relentless hustle, and ruthless execution. We look forward to supporting the team in achieving their vision to become the carbon data backbone of sustainable finance.”

Concluded Jakub Ślusarczyk, partner at Market One Capital: “We strongly believe that in the future, sustainability and carbon footprint awareness will become a major factor, influencing decision-making for businesses and customers alike. Connect Earth is working on providing a key piece of infrastructure that will make it a possibility. When we first met Alex and Nick in 2021, they impressed us with their vision and drive. More importantly, for the last two years, they have proven time and time again that they are able to execute on that vision and we are happy to be able to further support them in the mission of decarbonisation and building a tremendous company.”