London-based Opna has announced that it raised $6.5M (nearly €6M) in a Seed round of funding for its carbon project financing platform. The platform helps corporates find, fund, and monitor reliable carbon projects to meet their net-zero goals, aligning with the global push for sustainability and climate action.
The investment was led by European VC Atomico, joining existing investors Pale Blue Dot, MCJ Collective, Angelinvest and Tiny VC.
Alongside Atomico, a number of notable individuals also joined in on the round including Cristina Stenbeck, former Gainsight COO and DBT Labs Board Director Allison Pickens, former CCO for Klarna Luke Griffiths and Collibra co-founder Stijn Christiaens.
As part of this round Atomico Partner Terese Hougaard will join the board of Opna.
Hougaard says, “Producing meaningful climate solutions at the scale and speed we need to combat climate change is a monumental challenge. That’s why we’re so excited to work with Opna – through its data-driven platform, it is building the infrastructure necessary to transform the way that businesses interact with the voluntary carbon market and allow for meaningful emissions reduction.”
Emphasis on the Voluntary Carbon Market
According to McKinsey, only 7 per cent of the 5200 businesses worldwide committed to achieving net-zero targets by 2050 are currently on track to fulfill their pledges. To accelerate progress and meet these goals efficiently, companies will need to participate in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) to offset and reduce emissions.
The VCM is expected to grow into a trillion-dollar industry, but it faces challenges due to concerns about the quality of carbon credits and supply shortages. These issues are expected to worsen as demand for carbon credits is anticipated to surge in the coming years.
Shilpika Gautam, founder of Opna says, “To achieve their net zero commitments, an increasing number of corporates are seizing control by directly financing the carbon projects underlying the carbon credits. However, these businesses are having a hard time mobilising their capital due to a lack of in-house expertise, high transaction costs, analogue infrastructure, and time-consuming processes.”
“Opna’s goal is to provide the platform, data, and financing innovation that unlocks this capital, bridging the gap between corporates committed to reaching net-zero and carbon projects that seek financing.”
Opna (formerly Salt) is creating a carbon project financing platform. Its goal is to assist corporations in discovering, financing, and monitoring trustworthy and high-quality carbon projects in a transparent, cost-effective, and timely manner.
There are four key components to Opna’s platform:
- Improving discovery: Opna simplifies project discovery by connecting corporations with trusted developers, saving time and money while expanding funding networks.
- Facilitating financing: Opna uses its team’s expertise to simplify carbon project financing, reducing costs and promoting fairness among stakeholders through standardised processes.
- Monitoring project portfolio: Opna’s platform offers a digital tool for corporations to monitor their financed projects, including KPI tracking and risk reporting.
- Assessing risk with its proprietary engine: Opna relies on its proprietary risk engine, which analyses over 280 data points, to assess project quality. This helps corporates direct capital towards high-integrity projects based on factors like developer track record, financial viability, and carbon sequestration potential.
Capital utilisation
Founded in February 2022 by Shilpika Gautam, Opna’s core mission is to rebuild trust in voluntary carbon markets, enabling swift, widespread, and equitable carbon finance.
Therefore, the raised funding will be used to increase the platform awareness, improve its risk engine, support a variety of carbon projects, expand the team, and develop new financing and insurance services.