Much of the world recognises the importance of meeting net zero by 2050, but nearly all companies with net zero targets are estimated to fail to achieve their goals if they don’t, at least, double the pace of emissions reduction by 2030. It will take an estimated capital investment of $3.5 trillion annually over the next 30 years into the technology and infrastructure required to deliver a zero-carbon economy.
At the moment, the pace of action and investment lags far behind what is required, and a lack of data has made it nearly impossible to measure and benchmark progress against net zero targets and the effectiveness of climate action investments.
Headquartered in the UK, Sylvera makes it possible for companies and governments to invest in carbon credits and confidently report on their impact.
US expansion plans
The carbon data provider from London has closed a $57 million Series B funding round Balderton Capital (which backed 32Co and Unaric) led the round with participation from existing investors Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Speedinvest, Seedcamp, and LocalGlobe, and new investors Fidelity Strategic Ventures, Bain & Company, and 9Yards Capital. With this, the total investment secured by the company accounts for $96 million.
Sylvera plans to use the funds to incentivise organisations to invest in real climate impact. Also, it aims to expand its presence in the US with a local office in New York. A global hub for financial markets, a presence in New York will allow Sylvera to entrench into the financial services infrastructure and grow its industry relationships. Currently, the company has 12 US employees with plans to double the team by year-end.
This investment follows the recent addition of a Chief Technical Officer to its leadership team, Serge Kruppa, who led engineering functions within strategic business units at Checkout.com and Twilio.
“There is a serious lack of data to demonstrate progress against net zero targets and to prove that carbon emissions are actually being reduced or removed from the atmosphere. This uncertainty has created inaction–Sylvera is changing that,” said Allister Furey, CEO and co-founder of Sylvera. “Our technology ensures funding is going to the projects, companies, and countries having maximum climate impact to get the world on track for net zero. In time, this data will create much-needed financial incentives, such as higher share prices and cheaper borrowing, for organisations taking serious net zero action.”
Daniel Waterhouse, Partner, Balderton Capital, said, “There is an urgent need to provide the most accurate and transparent views on the multitude of carbon projects around the world in order for corporations, governments and markets to trust in the carbon credits they are buying and effectively scale their climate contributions and head towards net zero. Sylvera has proven to be the market leader in this emerging field and we are excited to be joining them on the next phase of the journey and their work in accelerating the roll-out of data, tools and software in order to steer a path to reducing damaging climate change.”
Erik Mostenicky, Principal at Fidelity International Strategic Ventures said, “We are excited to invest in Sylvera and contribute to the next stage of their growth by exploring asset management use cases. The company’s trusted and unbiased data solves a critical need for asset managers by helping them to better evaluate net zero plans of investee companies across the globe. Sylvera’s unique data platform also enables the creation of new sustainable investment products and educates investors about the quality of carbon offsets. The institutionalisation of carbon markets is necessary to help corporates and investors achieve their net zero targets and we believe Sylvera will be a key driver in facilitating this.”
Helps achieve net zero targets
Co-founded in 2020 by Dr. Allister Furey and Sam Gill in London, Sylvera works with the mission to incentivise investment in real climate action. It builds software that independently and accurately automates the evaluation of carbon projects that capture, remove, or avoid emissions and help organisations ensure they are making the most effective investments.
It provides ratings and data assessing climate action investments, including carbon credits, allowing organisations to confidently deliver their net zero strategies and work towards societal net zero. With Sylvera’s data and tools, businesses and governments can confidently invest in, benchmark, deliver, and report real climate impact.
Since January 2022 the company saw sevenfold growth in its customer base, signing on clients ranging from major financial services institutions and infrastructure providers to sovereign governments.
