Climate startup CarbonHQ has successfully raised AUD $600,000 in pre-seed funding, backed by Australian venture capital funds Galileo Ventures and Investible. Based in Sydney, the company aims to enhance the efficiency and transparency of carbon projects in response to the estimated AUD $3 billion worth of issues within the existing voluntary carbon market (VCM).
The company is developing a digital platform designed to streamline the processing of on-ground data, automate issuance workflows, and establish a direct link between credits and their underlying data. The funding will enable greater expansion of CarbonHQ's market presence and stimulate team growth.
Understanding the significant yearly growth of the VCM, around 30% since 2015, the company recognises the increasing demand for high-quality carbon credits. These are becoming necessary due to corporate commitments to reduce CO2 emissions and following recent progress at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, with suggestions that voluntary carbon markets could be used to meet Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) objectives in the future.
However, there are current inefficiencies within carbon project development, compounded by the reliance on conventional tools such as Excel, PDFs, and emails. This has led to difficulties in assessing credit quality once they have been created and increased development time for projects, up to 36 months for setup and credit issuance. CarbonHQ is endeavouring to address these challenges.
Allen Fan and Eugene Datsky are the co-founders of CarbonHQ. Fan brings valuable expertise gained from his role as an investment manager at a prominent global carbon project developer. On the other hand, Datsky offers extensive experience in leading engineering teams at renowned technology companies such as Canva and JetBrains.
Co-founder Allen Fan commented on the developments, "Carbon projects need to be more efficient and transparent to play a bigger role in fighting against climate change. We are thrilled to be backed by Galileo Ventures and Investible as we take on this challenge. Their support will allow us to deliver some pretty exciting solutions for our customers."
Eugene Datsky added his thoughts, "Over the course of my career, I have seen how technology completely transformed industries, and I am confident that the carbon market is on the cusp of major digital advancements. I am excited to be working with like-minded investors to drive positive change for carbon projects."
James Alexander, Galileo Ventures Partner, expressed their excitement to back CarbonHQ, adding, "Today, more than ever we need to increase the effectiveness and integrity of carbon markets. We believe CarbonHQ will help with this mission."
Investible Investment Manager Ben Lindsay reflected on why CarbonHQ stood out among other investment opportunities. He said, "CarbonHQ's platform stood out as a powerful tool that helps address the painstaking process of manually tracking carbon projects in complex spreadsheets. Instead, the company is enabling customers to forecast and track impact directly and efficiently with a unique blend of technical insight and product vision. Combining Allen's experience in carbon project development and Eugene's technical know-how, we believe CarbonHQ are a winning team."