ANALYSIS: VCM companies raise over $560m in the first four months of 2024
Quantum Commodity Intelligence – More than $566 million was raised by companies in the voluntary carbon market in the first four months of the year, according to data compiled by Quantum based on announced deals. The figure tops $1 billion if money secured by funds to invest in projects is included in the fundraising.
Most money was secured in the carbon dioxide removals (CDRs) sector, with over $254 million raised, followed by project developers with $128 million. Almost $88 million was secured by marketplaces, with carbon management and accounting platforms raising 57.6 million. Below Quantum outlines the money raised in each sector by companies.
Project developers ($128m)
Carbon RX
Canada-based Carbon RX said three farms in its Canadian Prairies Cropland Project were enrolled in the Canola Council of Canada's 4R Advantage Grant, which pre-approves up to CAD128,000 ($95,850) to support nitrogen management practices in agriculture and create more carbon credits.
The grant provides incentives to help growers initiate or advance '4R Nutrient Stewardship' on canola crops, which is a science-based approach to encourage nutrient management to enhance crop yields and reduce environmental impacts.
TerraFund for AFR100
In January, Africa-focussed climate fund TerraFund for AFR100 said 92 entities will be awarded $17.8 million to pay for the restoration of various ecosystems and provide a range of co-benefits for local communities.
TerraFund for AFR100, which is part-managed by the World Resources Institute and gets finance from the Bezos Earth Fund and other organisations, is focussing on landscape restoration projects in three of Africa's main ecosystems.
The fund deploys grants, loans, and equity investments to support non-profit community organisations and for-profit organisations in Africa that restore land through the planting of trees.
The Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo; the Ghana Cocoa Belt; and Kenya's Great Rift Valley will be the focus of the funding.
Tree Aid
In January, UK-based NGO Tree Aid raised funds through US platform Earthshot Labs to support tree planting in Burkina Faso, part of Africa's "Great Green Wall" to combat desertification, it said.
The Tond Tenga project aims to plant over 6.6 million native trees in Burkina Faso, a West African country with vast swathes of desert, and monetise the process with voluntary carbon credits.
Tree Aid and Earthshot Labs did not specify the amount raised, but said it was led by an undisclosed private family office based in New York and California and will generate "over $30 million" in direct community financial benefits over the project's lifetime.
Re.Green
Rio de Janeiro-based climate start-up Re.green has signed a deal with Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development obtaned a subsided loan of BRL187 million ($38 million) for forest restoration over almost 15,000 hectares in the country that will generate carbon credits.
Key Carbon
In March, Canada-based financier of cleaner cookstoves carbon projects Key Carbon entered into a $18 million carbon financing deal with global private equity firm Cartesian Sustainable Finance 1 – an affiliate of US private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group – to further expand the production and distribution of cookstoves across Africa.
The money will help finance the production and distribution of electric and charcoal clean cookstoves, as well as support new project developers.
Later in March, Kenya-based cookstove manufacturer and carbon credit project developer Burn said it has received a $12 million investment from Key Carbon, with the proceeds funding expansion in several African countries.
Cultivo
California-based Cultivo raised $14 million in Series A funding in January to advance its huge pipeline of nature-based carbon removal projects and accelerate its AI-driven science and technology platform.
The fundraise was co-led by US financial services firm MassMutual Ventures and UK-based utility Octopus Energy Generation, with participation from Salkantay Ventures and Peña Verde and brings the US start-up's total funding to over $20 million.
ByWill
Japanese environmental consultancy ByWill raised a further JPY180 million ($1.15 million) to close its Series A funding with a total of JPY480 million secured from 15 companies to help support its plans to promote decarbonisation across Japan's 47 prefectures, including the use of carbon credits.
The JPY180 million came from eight companies: SMBC Venture Capital Corporation, Kiyo Bank, Hirogin Capital Partners, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Iyogin Capital, Higin Capital, QR Investment and Gifu Shinkin Bank, ByWill said.
In February the company raised JPY300 million from seven investors including the venture capital arms of several Japanese banks – Chugin Capital Partners, the corporate venture capital arm of Chugoku Bank, Tottori Capital, Aichi Capital, Sagin Capital & Consulting and Sanin Godo Bank – as well as Frontier Corporation and Japanese TV company Fukui Television Broadcasting.
Windfall Bio
US start-up Windfall Bio raised $28 million in Series A funding in April to scale its nature-based solution for capturing methane emissions across various industries, and could generate carbon credits from the process in some contexts. It brings the company's total fundraising to $37 million.
The funding was led by US venture capital firm Prelude Ventures with participation from Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Global Brain through its Norinchukin Innovation Fund, Incite Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Mayfield, and Untitled.
"The new capital will enable Windfall to expand pilot deployments across methane intensive industries including agriculture, oil and gas, and waste management," the California-based company said in a statement this week.
Hummingbirds
French carbon project developer Hummingbirds has raised €1.75 million ($1.90 million) in short-term loans to continue its work on a reforestation scheme in Uganda.
The finance is being raised on B2C platform Lendosphere, which enables corporate actors to obtain loans from individuals with spare funds.
Varaha
Indian project developer Varaha has raised $8.7 million in fresh funding to expand to new markets, it announced this week, amid booming interest for carbon dioxide removal credits.
This brings total funding to the company, created just two years ago, to $12.7 million.
It said the funding will enable it to expand to five to six new countries in the next 12 to 18 months, including Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam and Zambia.
The company's Series A funding involved existing investors Omnivore and Orios Venture Partners, as well as Japan's Norinchukin Bank, AgFunder and Octave Wellbeing Economy Fund.
Carbon Removal ($254m)
Novocarbo
German biochar producer Novocarbo has secured €25 million in growth funding from French investment group SWEN Capital Partners to expand its European network of CDR sites.
Since its founding in 2017, the Hamburg-based company has opened three carbon removal parks in Germany – at Grevesmühlen on the Baltic coast, at the ThyssenKrupp Rothe Erde facility in Lippstadt and at a stand-alone unit on the Rhine river.
US DAC Hubs
The US government awarded an initial tranche of funding to one of the two direct air capture (DAC)projects earmarked for investment under its Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs programme. The Department of Energy's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) said in March more than $50 million had been awarded to Louisiana's Project Cypress, proposed by Battelle in coordination with Climeworks and Heirloom Carbon Technologies.
"This first tranche of funding is for activities in the initial project phase, which is expected to take two to three years and includes planning, design, and community and labour engagement activities," OCED said.
The Regional DAC Hubs programme aims to develop four hubs, each of which will demo a DAC technology or suite of technologies at a commercial scale with the potential for capturing at least 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year (tCO2/y) from the atmosphere.
Last August, as part of the programme, OCED announced two projects selected for award negotiation of up to $1.2 billion in funding, Project Cypress and the South Texas DAC Hub from 1PointFive, Carbon Engineering and Worley.
Climeworks
Switzerland-based DAC developer Climeworks was awarded $2.44 million in April by Norwegian state enterprise Enova for a feasibility study on whether to deploy technology on a large scale that uses machines to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"This funding for a feasibility study in Norway marks the first step in validating the country's potential for scalable and high-quality DAC+S [DAC plus storage] deployment that could position Norway as one of the Nordic pioneers in the global carbon removal efforts crucial to fighting climate change," Climeworks said.
Climeworks said the project, named 'Norse Pines', could have "multi-kiloton-capacity" and would be its second DAC plant in the Nordics, with its Orca pilot project in Iceland already up and running.
Parallel Carbon
Start-up Parallel Carbon raised $3.6 million in seed funding to help scale its DAC and clean hydrogen platform and start delivering CDR credits to its clients.
The funding, which will also be used to scale the company's team, was led by the corporate venturing arm of Saudi oil giant Aramco, Aramco Ventures, alongside other investors including Counteract, which expands a previous investment, Axon Partners Group, DNX Ventures, Voyagers Rumbo Ventures, and angel investor Andrew MacKay.
Parallel Carbon's system integrates DAC and water electrolysis processes powered by solar and wind power to simultaneously remove CO2 from the atmosphere and create clean hydrogen.
Planet Savers
Japanese start-up Planet Savers, which specialises in developing DAC technology, raised JPY250,000 million in seed financing, which will be used to help complete a prototype system and expand the company's team, among other things.
Planet Savers, which was set up in July last year out of the University of Tokyo with the aim of capturing 1 billion tCO2 by 2050, said the investment came from Spiral Capital and Jafco Group.
The company is working on DAC technology using adsorbents based on zeolite and plans to launch a pilot plant next month that will remove one kilogram of CO2 a day from the atmosphere.
Captura
US start-up Captura raised an additional $11.8 million through its Series A funding round, which now totals $45.3 million, further boosting its goal of commercialising and scaling its direct ocean capture (DOC) technology.
The latest funding came from new investors, National Grid Partners, the innovation arm of energy firm National Grid, and Japan Airlines Innovation/Translink Capital, as well as from some of Captura's existing investors, it said.
The California-based start-up previously announced raising $21.5 million for its DOC technology in January this year, after raising an initial $12 million in January 2023.
The January funding round was led by UK venture capital firm Future Planet Capital – an existing backer of the start-up – and included new investors such as Maersk Growth, Eni Next and EDP Ventures. Captura said "many" of its existing backers also re-invested, including Equinor Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Aramco Ventures, mTerra Ventures, and EIC Rose Rock Venture Fund.
NetZero
France's NetZero has raised a further €18 million ($19 million) in funding for its vision to scale biochar production in the tropics and concluded a financing deal with coffee giant Nespresso at one of its facilities in Brazil.
The latest transaction, which comes after a previous round announced last year, brings the total raised to date to €29 million.
Paris-based NetZero said the latest funds came from STOA, a French infrastructure fund operated by state-run banks Caisse des Dépôts and the French Development Agency, and will help it scale its ambitions further.
Mission Zero Technologies
UK DAC company Mission Zero Technologies has raised £21.8 million ($27.7m) in Series A funding to help scale its technology globally with the aim of achieving megatonne CO2 removal capacity by 2030.
The funding included venture capital firms 2150 and World Fund, as well as strategic investors Breakthrough Energy, Fortescue and Siemens Financial Services.
"By the end of 2024, we will have three fully-funded first-of-a-kind systems on the ground in projects pioneering CO2 mineralisation, carbon-negative building materials, and sustainable aviation fuel," Mission Zero said.
The company's electrochemical DAC technology is designed to fit inside shipping containers for "easy mobility and modular scaling".
CarbonCapture
US DAC company CarbonCapture has raised $80 million in a Series A financing round which will be used to advance the development of its technology and deploy its modular DAC systems.
Finance was led by Prime Movers Lab, which invests in scientific start-ups, with support from Marc Benioff's investment fund Time Ventures and venture capital firms Idealab X, Neotribe Ventures and Alumni Ventures, among others, as well as multiple strategic investors including Aramco Ventures and Siemens Financial Services.
CarbonCapture has developed solid sorbent DAC systems based on "patented modular open systems architecture" and has pre-sold over $26 million in CDR credits to companies.
Greenlyte Carbon Technologies
German start-up Greenlyte Carbon Technologies developing a low-energy approach to DAC has completed a €10.5 million ($11.4 million) pre-Series A funding round.
The company has now raised over €20 million since its inception almost two years ago through a combination of equity and grants.
Greenlyte's DAC technology removes CO2 from the atmosphere using a liquid-sorbent solution, which it says uses minimal energy and produces hydrogen as a byproduct.
Alcom Carbon Markets
Singapore-based Alcom Carbon Markets completed a pre-series A funding round that will support its biochar project expansion across Asia including plans for five new facilities to help contribute to its goal to remove 1 million tCO2 from the atmosphere by 2030.
Alcom did not disclose the amount of funding raised this round – led by compatriot venture capital firm Capital Code – but said it brings total investment in the company to almost $5 million.
The funding round also included participation from investment companies backed by a "London-based veteran trader and a former C-suite tech executive in Singapore", Alcom said.
Marketplaces ($88m)
Ceezer
German digital carbon marketplace Ceezer raised €10.3 million in Series A funding to help grow its team, strengthen its presence in the US and introduce additional carbon portfolio financing solutions to its platform.
The funding round was led by Germany-based venture capital firm HV Capital and included existing investors Norrsken VC, Picus Capital and Carbon Removal Partners.
Ceezer did not provide details on the type of additional carbon portfolio financing solutions that would be added to its platform, and a timeframe for achieving its objectives was not disclosed.
Enechain
Japanese company Enechain, which operates the Japan Climate Exchange environmental commodities trading platform, raised JPY6 billion in a Series B funding round and debt financing to further enhance its offering and expand its team.
Existing investors that participated in the latest funding round include DCM Ventures and Minerva Growth Partners, together with new investors JP Investment and Soros Capital Management.
Other companies involved are Jera, K4 Ventures, Chugoku Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power Miraiz, Hokkaido Electric Power, Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas, Sumitomo Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation. The four banks providing debt finance are SMBC Venture Capital, Mizuho Capital, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
Goodcarbon
Germany-based Goodcarbon raised €5.25 million in funding to build out its offering of nature-based carbon credits.
The funding round was led by Ocean 14 Capital, with participation from Silverstrand Capital, unnamed "high-profile angel investors" and existing investors Planet A Ventures, 468 Capital and Greenfield Capital, Goodcarbon said.
The proceeds will be used to "expand the company's nature analytics and expertise, strengthen its team, and introduce additional high-quality carbon offsetting projects to the market," it added.
Abaxx
Canada-based financial software company Abaxx Technologies, the majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore and the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse raised CAD18.7 million ($13.8 million) through the issuance of 1,437,500 common shares.
The shares were priced at CAD13 each, which "includes 187,500 common shares issued pursuant to the exercise of an over-allotment option", it said.
The offering was co-led by Canaccord Genuity Corporation and BMO Capital Markets, together with Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation.
Abaxx intends to use the net proceeds for "general corporate and working capital requirements, including to fund ongoing operations and/or working capital and minimum regulatory requirements for Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing or for other corporate purposes", set out in a prospectus for the offering.
Earlier in the year, Abaxx Singapore completed financing deals totalling SGD27,323,013 ($20 million) through the issuance of 953,787 preferred shares to strategic partners and 4,837,392 ordinary shares and 3,730,362 ordinary share purchase warrants.
Preferred shares investors are CBOE III, part of the US-based CBOE derivatives and exchange network, and traders TLW Trading and Traxys Lithium Investments, while Abaxx subsidiary Abaxx Technologies (Barbados) invested in the ordinary shares/warrants.
MRV ($28.1m)
Planboo
Swedish CDR start-up Planboo raised over $1.1 million to scale its measuring, reporting, and verifying (MRV) technology and 'unlock' biochar offsets from remote tropical regions. Investors included Norway-based venture capital firm Katapult, Silverstrand Capital, Rockstart, Imaginal Seeds, and 8+ Ventures.
"This funding will allow Planboo to make some key hires in marketing, product and business development whilst further developing the digital tooling to unlock simple, honest carbon removal," it said.
Planboo uses hardware and software Internet of things remote sensing technology as a tool for digital MRV to increase the accuracy in the quantity and quality of CDR taking place.
Treefera
UK-based AI-powered forest data platform Treefera raised $12 million in a Series A funding round led by London-based venture capital firm AlbionVC that will help to enhance the platform's capabilities and expand the company's team.
Treefera's platform uses AI algorithms and a repository of satellite, drone and ground data mapping over a trillion trees globally to expedite MRV carbon credits.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
US research organisation Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution received $25 million from a financier to support work on MRV protocols in ocean-based CDR.
Woods Hole said the donation had brought total funding over the past three years to $85 million. US financier Paul Salem, a senior managing director at Providence Equity Partners, provided the funds.
Carbon accounting and management ($57.6m)
Greenly
France-based carbon accounting platform and marketplace Greenly raised $52 million in Series B funding to help scale its operations and achieve a goal of managing the reduction of 1 billion tCO2e by 2030.
Funding was led by UK financial services firm Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, and included new investors Benhamou Global Ventures, Move Capital, Hewlett Packard and HSBC.
Other investors included venture capital firm Xangel, Energy Impact Partners and the co-founder and president of US software company HubSpot, Brian Halligan.
"The funds will be used to perfect our software solutions, expand our service offering, as well as increase our market presence, particularly in the US and Europe," Greenly said.
The company will also develop additional features, including a life-cycle assessments builder and cloud-based sustainable procurement services.
BlueLayer
Germany-based start-up BlueLayer, which provides an 'end-to-end' software platform for carbon project developers, raised $10 million across two seed and pre-seed funding rounds to help scale its operations.
Some $5.6 million was raised in a recent seed round led by German venture capital firm Point Nine, while a pre-seed round in 2022 raised $4.4 million.
BlueLayer will use the funding to expand its platform features to "address a wider set of emerging and complex developer needs", as well expand its teams in Berlin, London and Athens across engineering, product and operations.
Ratings/Data/Analytics/ Insurance providers ($10.4m)
Oka The Carbon Insurance Company
Oka The Carbon Insurance Company raised $10 million that will be used to grow the firm and support "risk-based capital requirements".
Lead investors include private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners and seed-stage venture firm Firstminute Capital, both of which were involved in Oka's $7 million seed round of financing in February last year.
Other investors in the latest fund raise are "climate-solutions" investor Overview Capital, as well as "multiple angel investors with a vested interest in climate technology and carbon-market innovation", the insurer said.
CarbonHQ
Australia-based start-up CarbonHQ raised AUD600,000 ($389,862) in pre-seed funding to help build out its digital platform for carbon projects, grow its team and foster market expansion.
Funding came from compatriot venture capital firms Galileo Ventures and Investible, according to a statement released in February.
Arkadiah
Arkadiah Technology, a Singapore-based start-up utilising digital technology for nature-based solutions in Asia that deliver CDR and biodiversity credits closed a seed funding round for an undisclosed amount.
Funding was led by Southeast Asia-focussed venture capital outfit Golden Gate Ventures, with other investors Thailand-based venture capital fund The Radical Fund and Japan-based Hirac Fund.
Funds ($435.3m)
Manulife Forest Climate Fund
Canadian asset manager Manulife Investment Management announced the second close on the Manulife Forest Climate Fund (MFCF), with total money raised reaching $334.5 million, up from $224.5 million at first close in November last year and closer to its $500 million target.
MFCF, which was launched in December 2022 and prioritises carbon sequestration in trees over timber production to generate carbon credits, is aiming for final closing later this year, Manulife Investment Management said.
The statement did not mention any of the investors in the fund, only that MFCF is a "closed-end investment vehicle for qualified US investors and certain global institutional investors".
However, in recent weeks a number of Japanese companies have announced investments in the fund.
In the last week of April, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank said it had entered into an agreement to invest in MFCF, following similar announcements by Mitsui Leasing, MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings and oil company Idemitsu Kosan earlier in the same month.
Silvipar Astarte Impact Forestry Fund
UK investment company Astarte Capital Partners and Swedish forestry development company Silvipar raised over $325 million for their inaugural fund to finance afforestation carbon projects in the South American country of Paraguay.
The Silvipar Astarte Impact Forestry Fund closed at $325.3 million, well above its target of $200 million, attracting investors from over 25 countries across five continents, the companies said.
The fund, which is "shaping to be among the largest and most diverse institutional capital pool ever assembled for investment in Paraguay," is targeting a portfolio of more than 80,000 hectares with the intention of planting approximately 60 million trees, the companies said.
"This portfolio is aimed to generate strong financial returns for investors combined with significant volume of carbon removal estimated in excess of 18 million tonnes of carbon sequestration," they added.