Following on from their $1M seed-round in September last year, Pathzero has seen growing support for its emissions data platform having closed a $7 million round.
The round was led by local venture firm Carthona Capital, with Antler Australia and Phil Vernon getting involved for a second time. New investors include Paul Rayson, Former Managing Director of Commsec.
“Essentially it’s carbon expertise and accounting as a service.” CEO and Founder Carl Prins explained in an earlier article. The company operates a platform that helps investors to understand the emissions profile of portfolio companies. But they go further, offering assistance to implement an emissions reduction plan, purchasing verified carbon credits and disclosing data to the public.
“For asset managers, accessing emissions data for a portfolio of small listed and unlisted companies has been very challenging. The expense of performing an assessment and the lack of consistency in reporting has meant that greenhouse gas emissions information has simply not been available.” Carl says.
“Gaining direct access to portfolio company emissions information is revolutionary as it by-passes the traditional flow of information from companies to active institutional investors.”
The firm is also taking their service offering further by offering clients access to a consultant who can help them negotiate the complexities around emissions measurement and the growing list of factors relating to sustainable investing.
Dean Dorrell from Carthona Capital says they’d been looking for this kind of business as carbon management moves from being an altruistic choice, to being a business imperative.
“We have been looking for an investment in the carbon tech sector for a long time. We have had a thesis that carbon measurement, reporting and offsetting would transition from an altruistic, ‘good citizen’ responsibility to becoming all that and good business. It is clear that time has come, and we believe all businesses will need to show their carbon credentials to retain or attract customers – from the ASX20 down to the smallest business. Pathzero has already shown incredible vision and execution and has massive growth ahead of it. We couldn’t be more pleased to be partnering with Carl, Charbel and the team to help them build a globally significant business.”