To achieve a net-zero world and prevent climate disaster, every product must be sustainable, and that starts with every purchase. However, achieving sustainability requires greater transparency, which means gathering more data on suppliers to enhance sourcing and evaluate companies. Although companies are making efforts, the challenge, particularly with issues like CO2 emissions, is often rooted in the supply chain.
Danish startup Responsibly has the answers in providing retailers, builders, and others with a supply network, a scorecard against this supply chain of providers. The AI-driven platform helps companies automatically evaluate, report and take action on how sustainable their suppliers are.
Raises $2.4M funding
In a recent development, Responsibly has raised $2.4 million in a seed funding round led by venture capital firms Hambro Perks (known for investing in Onin and Lindus Health) and Pi Labs.
The funding will allow Responsibly to further invest in its proprietary AI engine, so it can expand its functionality to capture more data types, democratising access to sustainable procurement.
Responsibly’s founder and CEO, Thomas Buch Andersson, said: “Our mission is to make every b2b purchase in the world truly sustainable and ethically responsible by leveraging cutting-edge AI-driven technology. As more buyers push suppliers for sustainability data to achieve scope 3 targets or regulatory compliance, we want companies to spend less time manually collecting sustainability data – which is completely unscalable – so they can focus on actually making an impact where it matters the most by building a more sustainable supply chain which complies with increasing regulation.”
Laura Noorani, investment manager at Hambro Perks, said: “Responsibly’s automated approach, which leverages a wealth of existing data and certifications from Sedex to B Corp certifications to ISO, strikes us as the most efficient, realistic way to address an enormous challenge at scale. We are excited to see Responsibly become the one-click, single source of truth for information on a company’s ESG credentials.”
Faisal Butt, founder and managing partner of Pi Labs, said: “Responsibly is solving a real world problem that can be applied at scale to almost any sector, particularly real estate, and leverages innovative technology to equip businesses with the sustainability data they need to make informed supply chain decisions. Suppliers not complying with regulations run the risk of materially impacting corporate sustainability goals – and Responsibly eloquently mitigates this challenge. We’re truly excited about the growth potential of Responsibly, which follows on from a number of our recent ESG-focused investments that are laser-focused on addressing the pressing societal issues we are all facing.”
Deploys AI for supplier sustainability platform
Responsibly was founded in 2021 by serial impact and tech entrepreneur Thomas Buch Andersson, a former consultant at The Boston Consulting Group and founder of Ofload, Daniel Stanila, Hope Jeter, and Christian Hjort Lauritzen.
The platform combines AI technology with detailed expert data to provide a comprehensive analysis of any supplier’s sustainability actions, enabling companies to automate engagement and put suppliers on an improvement roadmap.
Responsibly uses practical AI to find and understand the incredibly large landscape of sustainability data. This helps purchasers accelerate impact with instant access to supplier sustainability and risk data, while suppliers spend less resources on complying with data requests and instead are guided on how to improve.
Responsibly counts the internationally renowned research facility CERN as one of its clients alongside Chr. Hansen, the world’s largest food cultures and dairy enzymes producer.
