London-based carbon data provider Sylvera raises $57m Series B, plans US expansion

London-based carbon data provider Sylvera announced it has raised $57 million in Series B financing round to scale its teams and product offerings and support expansion into the US.

The funding will also let Sylvera double down on its technology leadership to produce the most robust possible data to support investment in climate action. Sylvera welcomes new investors Balderton Capital, Bain & Company, Fidelity Strategic Ventures, and 9Yards Capital, with participation from existing investors including Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Salesforce, Speedinvest, Seedcamp, and LocalGlobe. 

Daniel Waterhouse, Partner, Balderton Capital: "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."

Since last January’s Series A announcement, Sylvera has grown significantly, expanding its customer base sevenfold, forging partnerships with firms including S&P Global, and bringing on clients ranging from major financial services institutions to sovereign governments. As the company has grown, it’s become increasingly apparent that there’s a serious lack of data to demonstrate progress against net zero targets, and to prove that carbon emissions are actually being reduced and past emissions removed. This uncertainty has rewarded inaction and imposes an economic penalty on those taking action. Sylvera is reversing that, creating an incentive for investment in genuine climate action.

By combining cutting-edge technology with leading carbon project evaluation methodologies, Sylvera provide robust data and ratings about climate action investments, including carbon credits, allowing both private sector and government to fill gaps in their net zero strategy and work towards societal net zero. As a result, Sylvera ensure funding is going to the projects, companies, and countries having maximum climate impact, in order to get the world on track for net zero. This data is the foundation for creation of effective and much-needed financial incentives, such as higher share prices and cheaper borrowing, for organizations taking serious action.

Lord Johnson, UK Minister for Investment: "Voluntary carbon markets have an important role to play in progressing our transition to a net zero economy, and we want the UK to be a leader for innovation in this industry, which means inward investment is crucial. With the significant sums being raised in investment, homegrown companies like Sylvera are helping to achieve this." 

The new funding will enable Sylvera to further develop our platform and include new data and information about carbon credits and net zero activity, to provide a more holistic picture of organizations’ progress against their targets. It will also support the company's efforts to scale the technical capabilities and grow the engineering and product teams. Recently, Sylvera added a Chief Technical Officer to its leadership team, Serge Kruppa, who led engineering teams at Checkout.com and Twilio, and will be instrumental in the next phase of growth. 

In addition, Sylvera is expanding into the US with a local office in New York. Having a presence in a global hub for financial services will help Sylvera embed into the center of the industry as the company develops new infrastructure for a new type of financial market to emerge.  In the US, Sylvera is aiming to double its local team by year-end.

Erik Mostenicky, Principal, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures: "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 institutionalization 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."

www.sylvera.com