A seat at the table
We are thrilled to announce we have closed a $50m investment round.
This is the biggest Series B raise in UK climate tech this year, and one of the biggest globally for the climate start-up class of 2020.
US-based fund Quantum Energy Partners led the round with follow-on investments from Molten Ventures, Norrsken VC, Illuminate Financial, Qima and Contrarian Ventures. We also secured strategic investment from EDF Group’s venture capital arm EDF Pulse Ventures, Hitachi Ventures and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
The mixture of geographies, partnership opportunities, and investors (new and old) lays the ideal foundation as we invest in becoming the first truly global carbon rating agency both in terms of client and market coverage.
Taking a step back, this past year has been a wild ride for BeZero, and for carbon ratings as a concept.
Back in March - Focus on Ratings - we talked about how we had been refining our business model to bring a global carbon ratings agency to market.
Just two months later - Scaling Carbon Markets - we outlined our vision for how to build the risk language and information rails for a new climate economy.
Fast forward to today and it feels like a lifetime ago that we launched our ratings platform, when in fact it was only this April.
Today our platform is used by a growing number of global clients, including major institutions from the energy, commodities and financial sectors as well as leading climate platforms. Our ratings are also the most widely adopted across marketplaces and exchanges.
Thousands of individuals and organisations have accessed the free listings service, ratings explainer and technical methodology documents, and wider research reports on our website.
Embracing competition is another key reason for the rise of carbon ratings. Everyone benefits from different organisations giving their assessments. Carbon is a uniquely heterogeneous asset class. The more we can do to empower market participants with risk-based analysis, features and data tools, the more vibrant the VCM will become.
Our continued investment, along with that of other companies, is certainly a resounding signal that the market wants this type of approach.
To have raised $74m in little more than twelve months is ultimately an endorsement of the amazing team we have assembled. It is an acknowledgement of the scale we need to reach to become the category leader in the sector.
Building information infrastructure in a new category is not a one industry or one team task.
One in six people in the company hold PhDs, and our Ratings Analysts, Geospatial experts, and market-defining researchers have been cited ~10,000 times in peer-reviewed, scientific academic literature.
Our outstanding data scientists, product managers, and engineering teams have vast cross-industry experience in delivering complex automation strategies and pioneering content-led platforms.
The work of our marketing and commercial teams starts with a basic premise…that we are in the business of selling risk-based opinions. Selling a new risk language requires innovative adoption and sales strategies supported by unbending credibility.
Finally, inventing and socialising a new risk language requires creating an environment which embraces a culture of knowledge sharing and tenacity. Our formidable operations and finance team provide that essential backbone. When you and your colleagues are inventing roles and responsibilities in real time, keeping that talent is the name of the game.
We are also busy setting up offices and hiring staff in key growth markets, including the US and Asia, as we ensure our business covers all major time zones.
And yet everyone at BeZero knows the hard yards still lay ahead.
We are not the finished article, nor will we ever be. This type of business has never been attempted before at this scale.
We are learning, listening to feedback, and improving our processes across data collection, data interrogation, different types of remote and ground analysis, ratings, risk reviews, and on-going monitoring.
We’ve achieved a tremendous amount in a short period of time. Imagine what we can do with three, five, ten years under our belts.
Taking on grown-up capital also comes with serious responsibilities for how we operate in this often turbulent space.
The same can be said for everyone purposefully seeking to scale the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), and build markets in environmental assets more generally.
BeZero’s approach will be to display strong leadership on market structure and drive innovation in risk-based assessments supported by a clear philosophy of change and clarity of business model. We will balance this with a commitment to collaboration, transparency, humility, and continuous learning.
Ultimately, we raised a B round to send a strong message that we are here for the long-term. And we couldn’t be more excited.