Former JPMorgan and UiPath executives have raised $12m in funding for their forestry data platform, which measures the effectiveness of conservation projects and the impact of carbon-credit-related schemes.
The Series A funding round was led by AlbionVC with other participating investors and was closed in February —just seven months after the startup announced a $2.2m pre-seed led by Concept Ventures in September last year.
Former UiPath chief customer officer Caroline Grey and ex-JPMorgan managing director Jonathan Horn started working on the startup in 2022. The pair say they’ve been able to lean on the professional networks from their former workplaces as they’ve built out Treefera in the years since.
“I think we’re lucky to have really good relationships with senior people at UiPath and JPMorgan — having that network is incredibly valuable even if it just stops you from making stupid mistakes,” says Horn in an interview with Sifted.
What are they working on?
Treefera uses satellite and drone images, sourced from places including NASA and the European Space Agency, to map the world’s forests. It’s also branching out into mapping kelp and algae blooms too.
Treefera’s data is then used by companies working on projects to prevent deforestation or to promote reforestation. They use the data to assess the feasibility of new projects or to monitor the outcomes of existing ones.
That’s particularly important for forest protection work tied to the carbon market – where organisations sell “credits” to companies wanting to offset their emissions. The sector has faced criticism for the quality of credits, with critics saying it’s often difficult to prove the real impact of what is happening on the ground.
“There's been a lot of nervousness and a lack of trust in what's actually being delivered,” says Caroline Grey, cofounder of Treefera.
Treefera is paid directly by companies wanting to offset their emissions — unlike some carbon credit verification companies, which take a cut from the providers of every credit they assess, leading to criticisms that they’re financially incentivised to greenlight projects. “Philosophically, that's very important to us because it comes back to trust,” says Horn.
After a series of investigations last year questioned the validity of carbon credits, several new startups popped up hoping to help restore trust. Isometric, a UK-based company, secured a $25m seed round last year, to build a registry to verify and track the purchase of credits.
Treefera also has clients using its data to monitor their supply chains. Deforestation impacts local microclimates and can affect the resiliency of supply chains located nearby. Other clients include insurance companies and asset managers.
Climate fintechs
Treefera’s financing is the latest example of a startup receiving VC backing to innovate at the intersection of both fintech and climate tech, of which there are 600 across the US and Europe according to a report released last month by fintech investor CommerzVentures.
The report also said that climate-focused fintechs held up well amid the funding drought — they experienced only a 19% fall between 2023 and the year before compared to a 38% drop in overall VC funding in the same period. Some notable European entries included the Monzo alumni-founded Abatable, which raised a $13.5m funding round in April, and Sweden-based finance platform ClimateView, which raised a €14m funding round last year.
Climate tech and fintech are the top two most popular sectors in Europe's startup scene as well. Last quarter, climate tech startups secured €3.6bn in 288 deals while €2.4bn in equity funding was funnelled into European fintech across 187 deals according to data collected by Sifted.
Treefera appears to have parlayed that interest in the two sectors to speedily secure fresh capital. Grey claims it only took around a month to close its Series A despite VCs “upping their game with due diligence” — suggesting that investor appetite for climate fintechs is yet to be whet.
Treefera has a headcount of fifteen. Grey says one of the key lessons she took from her time at UiPath was the importance of maintaining a lean team. That said, Treefera will use its latest funding to make new hires and further develop its platform.
