London, March 28, 2023: Within a year after its first funding, Connect Earth closes a $5.6 million seed round to grow its API-first environmental data offering that drives sustainable finance. The round was led by Gresham House Ventures with participation from Love Ventures, Global Brain and its CVC partner The Norinchukin Bank, Portfolio Ventures, Super Capital and strategic angel investors. The existing investors Market One Capital, Mustard Seed MAZE and Venista Ventures joined the round as well.

Founded in 2021, Connect Earth is a London-based environmental data company that democratises access to sustainability data. With its easy-to-integrate carbon tracking API, Connect Earth helps financial institutions to offer their customers transparent insight into the climate impact of their daily spending and investment decisions.

The funding round will enable Connect Earth to scale faster within Europe and support the company’s expansion into the US, where it already works with financial institutions and strategic partners. With this new investment, the team will be able to focus on executing a significant pipeline of opportunities including blue chip names.

“Decarbonisation initiatives in the financial sector are growing rapidly which is why we need to further scale our product offering to help financial institutions measure and reduce the emissions of their customers,” says Alexander Lempka, Co-Founder and CEO at Connect Earth, who, together with Nick Carmont, Co-Founder and CTO of the startup, has been included in this year’s Forbes 30 under 30 Social Impact category. “This funding round enables us to exponentially increase our impact globally.”

“We are planning to launch several new products that will break down the barriers to accessing environmental data and tools,” says Nick Carmont, CTO at Connect Earth. “We aim to bring carbon footprint data into the daily lives of millions of people so that environmental action becomes widely accessible.”

“The financial sector has historically lacked the infrastructure to support sustainable finance in a tangible way,” says Benjamin Faulkner, ​Associate Director at Gresham House Ventures. “Connect Earth is solving two significant issues for financial institutions. Firstly, facilitating products and features that provide end-users insights into their carbon footprint improves customer acquisition, engagement, and retention. Secondly, extensive regulatory tailwinds such as TCFD and SFDR require financial institutions to materially improve disclosure of their carbon footprints across value chains.”

“Alex and Nick impressed us with their clear vision, relentless hustle, and ruthless execution,” says Zixin Pan, ​Associate Director at Gresham House Ventures. “We look forward to supporting the team in achieving their vision to become the carbon data backbone of sustainable finance.”

As part of the investment, Gresham House Ventures brings Stewart Holness, an experienced Chair with significant expertise scaling technology businesses across an esteemed 25+ year career as a founder CEO, NED and Chairperson.

“We strongly believe that in the future, sustainability and carbon footprint awareness will become a major factor, influencing decision-making for businesses and customers alike. Connect Earth is working on providing a key piece of infrastructure that will make it a possibility,” says Jakub Ślusarczyk, Partner at Market One Capital. “When we first met Alex and Nick in 2021, they impressed us with their vision and drive. More importantly, for the last two years, they have proven time and time again that they are able to execute on that vision and we are happy to be able to further support them in the mission of decarbonisation and building a tremendous company.”

Since the beginning of 2022, Connect Earth has estimated carbon emissions for over half a billion financial transactions. Connect Earth’s API has been integrated with large European banking groups such as KBC Bank, community banks such as New York-based Bank Purely, as well as several fintechs across Europe and the US, including Cogni, Ribbon, and Jules. Connect Earth also has partnerships with companies such as SAP, Thought Machine and Q2, enabling their customers to use Connect Earth’s data through their respective marketplaces. Connect Earth was part of the FIS Fintech accelerator in the US, spearheading the company’s US expansion.

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Founded in 2021, Connect Earth is a London-based environmental data company that democratises easy access to sustainability data. With its carbon tracking API technology, Connect Earth is on a mission to empower people to make sustainable choices and bridge the gap between intent, knowledge and action. Connect Earth supports financial institutions in offering their customers transparent insight into the climate impact of their daily spending and investment decisions.