UK's carbon offset ratings startup Sylvera raises $32m funding to become source of truth in carbon markets

Carbon offset ratings provider, Sylvera, announced it has raised $32.6 million in Series A funding to accelerate its mission to become a source of truth for carbon markets.

The round is co-led by Index Ventures - which also led the Seed round - and New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, with participation from Salesforce Ventures, LocalGlobe and angel investors. This brings Sylvera's total funding to $39.5 million since being founded in 2020.

The demand for carbon credits is growing exponentially and is expected to be worth $100 billion by 2030. While companies are working to reduce carbon emissions as fast as they can, today full decarbonization is technically impossible in most industries. As such, many companies rely on carbon credits to offset emissions that they are unable to eliminate in the short to medium term. The carbon credit market, however, has been rife with controversy, and many people do not trust the accuracy of the claims surrounding carbon offset projects. Sylvera has set out to solve this problem.

Sylvera provides a critical missing link: independent, in-depth and up-to-date assessments of carbon projects. Sylvera's team of experts leverages proprietary data and machine learning technology to produce the most comprehensive and accessible insights and market intelligence on carbon projects, which are delivered through an online platform. Sylvera is also partnering with leading researchers at UCLA, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, and University College London to expand its proprietary methods for evaluating carbon performance.

Allister Furey, Co-founder and CEO, Sylvera: "The market is one of the world's most powerful tools against climate change. But we need reliable data to determine the quality of carbon offsets, in order to incentivize people to invest in the projects that are actually doing good - and to reward the project developers doing good work.That's why we're building the most accurate ratings for the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM). We'll use the funding to expand our coverage so that, with our ratings, corporate sustainability leaders, carbon traders, and policymakers will have clarity, confidence and choice when evaluating and investing in carbon projects. This is how you move billions of dollars into carbon abatement, sequestration and removal."

Unlike recent market entrants in the carbon offset marketplace, Sylvera does not sell carbon offsets. This ensures that Sylvera's ratings are free from conflicts of interest that have hindered the development of the market to date. Sylvera's ratings are available to its customers through a web application and via API.

Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas, Partner at Index Ventures and Sylvera Board Member: "We won't stand a chance of reducing the world's carbon emissions without a well-functioning carbon offset market. Billions are spent on carbon offsets every year, yet there is a lack of transparency and accountability and, therefore, a lack of trust. Trust is absolutely essential to reach the scale required to address the climate emergency. As an independent data provider, Sylvera has seen exponential growth in demand from some of the world's largest companies, governments, and other entities. It highlights how critical their work is, and we're excited to expand our partnership with Sylvera."

Deven Parekh, Managing Director, Insight Partners: "We've seen incredible growth in the carbon offset market, but until recently, it's been difficult for the companies that buy these offsets to measure their impact. Sylvera's advanced technology allows corporations to monitor the performance of nature-based offsets in real time. Sylvera has quickly become a leader in the industry with a growing list of Fortune 500 clients. We're excited to partner with Sylvera as they continue to scale up."

www.sylvera.com