Cloverly snags $2.1M seed to continue developing API to measure and offset carbon usage

Cloverly, an Atlanta-based early stage startup, has developed an API that helps companies measure and then offset their carbon emissions. Today the company announced a $2.1 million seed round.

TechSquare Ventures led the round with participation from SoftBank Opportunity Fund and Panoramic Ventures along with Circadian Ventures, Knoll Ventures, and SaaS Ventures.

While it was at it, the company announced that founder Anthony Oni has stepped back from running the company day-to-day, but will remain on the board as advisor. The company has hired former eBay exec Jason Rubottom as CEO in his place.

We're a Sustainability as a Service company that helps other companies measure and reduce their carbon footprint. Our API measures the carbon emissions from various activities or processes within a business and allows that business or its customers to offset those emissions. And then it provides comprehensive reporting on that," Rubottom explained.

Rudy Krehbiel, who runs operations for the company says that the API is designed to be flexible to meet the needs of each company accessing the services, but once developers create an application, it works automatically to measure emissions and purchase the offsets. The solution itself is automated. Most of the work happens up front, and once we get integrated it becomes a fully productized and operationalized ongoing measurement and offsetting solution," he said.

Corporate sustainability initiatives may open doors for carbon offset startups

As customers build solutions using the tool, they can then offset their carbon usage by buying carbon offsets from the public markets, and this can be automated based on the usage of a given company. Cloverly monitors the offset market to ensure that the sources are credible and are adding new ones as they develop.

The company is working with over 600 brands, which have offset over 55 million pounds of carbon to this point. The API was originally conceived by Oni when he was working at the Southern Company and spun out as a startup on Earth Day in 2019.

Oni, who is Black, is moving away from day-to-day operations as he hands the baton to Rubottom, but he recognizes the significance of this funding from a diversity perspective.

As a Black tech founder of a climate tech company, it's incredibly validating to have TechSquare Ventures and Softbank's Opportunity Fund as investors. It will take diverse people and teams to find solutions to create a more sustainable future," he said.

A growing number of startups are creating APIs to assess and offset corporate carbon emissions