CO2 emissions from food constitute about one third of global emissions and a lot of European startups are working to solve the issue. Further, to help the global food industry lower its carbon emissions, Swedish carbon management software company Klimato has raised €4.2 million to continue its international expansion.
Global Cleantech Capital (GCC), a Netherlands-based investor in clean-tech and sustainability companies, led the financing round, with existing shareholders Almi Invest Greentech and others participating.
“Klimato has the potential to drive the food sector in a sustainable direction at a large scale. Since our first investment in Klimato in 2021, we have been impressed by the yearly impact we have seen for Klimato’s customers, last year an average decrease in CO2 emissions per dish by 23 percent. We are thrilled that our investment will allow Klimato to expand further and help the food industry with a faster transition,” said Karin Edström, Investment Manager, Almi Invest GreenTech.
The era of Climate friendly meals
With a team of 20 which is a 50% split between women and men, the company has developed a cloud-based software platform that measures, reports, and reduces the carbon footprint of food service providers, restaurants, and food producers. This software automates carbon accounting using research-based data, resulting in a faster, easier, and more accurate process. In addition, it provides a dashboard that allows users to track and reduce emissions.
Using Klimato, food service providers, restaurants, and food producers, such as Sodexo, Hilton, and Violife, can measure, report, and reduce carbon emissions from food. Over 500 food businesses in 12 countries use Klimato’s cloud-based platform to reduce their CO2 emissions by an average of 23% in 2022.
Anton Unger, CEO and co-founder of Klimato tells TFN, “We founded Klimato in 2017 and launched in 2018, it was founded by me and my co-founder Christoffer. As childhood friends, sustainability and food have always been big passions of ours!”
The investment of € 4.2 million will accelerate Klimato’s growth – both with existing customers and into new markets, such as Germany, France, and the US – aiming to become the worldwide market leader for sustainability services in the food sector. Klimato will also expand its product offering with more sustainability indicators.
Talking abour expansion plans, Unger notes, “In 2021, we expanded to the UK market where we now have 5 employees and are growing rapidly. We’re now planning to enter France and later on Germany, The Netherlands and the US together with existing global customers.”
Klimato’s tools for recipe creation and procurement, along with its climate label with carbon footprints for each dish, make these emissions transparent for chefs, purchasing managers, and consumers. “We are impressed by Klimato’s strong growth, the successful start of the international expansion, and their commitment to sustainability,” said Emil Mahjoub, Investment Manager at GCC. “Klimato helps the food industry make data-driven decisions about carbon emissions, and is already a business-critical partner to leading organizations such as Sodexo, Compass Group, and Violife across the Nordics, the UK, and beyond. We are excited to collaborate with the management team and existing investors to help realize Klimato’s ambitious global growth plans.”
