ClimateTech start-up Climes, on Tuesday, announced its first funding of $1.2 million in a round from investors like Sequoia Capital India, Kalaari Capital, Nithin Kamath, and Avaana Capital. The company also revealed that it is building an engine that accelerates the flow of fresh capital toward climate solutions by making it convenient for brands and individuals to take meaningful climate action.
Climes’ co-founders Anirudh Gupta and Siddhanth Jayaram, in a public statement, announced, "Finance is the single biggest lever to solve climate change. Fantastic projects and solutions for carbon mitigation exist all around us. However, the finance needed to scale these projects is simply not flowing fast enough."
The first round also includes participation from Satyen Kothari (Cube Wealth) and Anshuman Bapna (Terra.do) from Stanford Angels, Keshav Reddy (Reddy Futures), and climate-tech founders Arjun Gupta (Smart Joules) & Akshay Singhal (Log9 Materials) among others.
Some of the brands associated with Climes are MakeMyTrip, TEDx, Zingbus, Wedding Brigade along with at least a dozen more in the pipeline.
"With this capital raise, Climes is i) building the necessary digital infrastructure to enable a big chunk of this money to flow transparently and ii) designing the right incentives for all market players to benefit. The delta of each rupee/dollar/euro that flows through Climes will have an outsized multiplier impact on global carbon mitigation," the co-founders added.
The ClimateTech company plans to use the capital on two fronts -- 1) deploy more integrations with brands in fashion, food, travel, beauty & personal care, and enable a pathway for brands to become climate leaders within their categories, and 2) expand the tech-stack to swiftly onboard high-quality climate solutions within India, as well as to measure and report impact transparently, the company said in a statement.
Vani Kola, Managing Director, Kalaari Capital said, "The rising awareness of the need for carbon-neutral lifestyle and climate costs require urgent new solutions. Entrepreneurs offering solutions with climate sensitiveness can create key differentiating propositions. Sid and Ani have lofty goals to bring climate awareness and action. Climes’ solution makes it possible for brands to embark on that transition by allowing customers to carbon-neutralise every transaction."
As per the company, Climes’s technology allows consumer-facing brands to turn climate-positive in a matter of hours. Moreover, at a macro level, the start-up’s engine permits a transparent flow of finance from where it is to where it needs to go, while at a micro level, it acts as the gateway for individuals and brands to take their first climate action steps.
Nithin Kamath, Founder & CEO of Zerodha and Rainmatter, said "The ideal solution towards climate change problems is to reduce consumption which may not be possible at all times. Making people aware of their carbon footprint and then making it available to offset maybe a good mid-way path. We are excited to be a part of their journey and learn ourselves along the way."
According to the founders of Climes, any climate plan should follow a simple formula - ‘Cut what you can, neutralise what you can’t.’ In other words, reduce avoidable emissions through climate-friendly operations, and neutralise unavoidable emissions, through platforms like Climes.