FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 29, 2023 — The seed funding round, led by LOVC, is joined by Reign Ventures with participation from BDMI, Florida Opportunity Fund, and McClatchy. Letterhead, a software platform for automating the creation and management of email newsletters, streamlines newsletter creation, distribution, and monetization for publishers and marketing teams to help produce meaningful content at scale. Leveraging AI, Letterhead empowers users to manage multiple newsletters with the workflow of one, improving efficiency and scalability while retaining the ability to create quality, personalized, and bespoke products. Letterhead’s software works with a customer’s existing content management system and email service provider, enabling any company to use its tools with minimal switching costs.

“Our vision is to help every company engage their audiences with meaningful media content,” said Christopher Sopher, co-founder and CEO of Letterhead. “As changes to cookies and privacy rules make owning your audience more critical than ever, we think it should be way easier for teams to create quality content products for every segment of their community. Our first step is making it possible for any business to create great newsletters in a fraction of the time.”

Letterhead is trusted by the publishers of over 1,800 newsletters, indicating a strong market fit and demand for more intelligent audience engagement software. Customers include leading brands like Techstars and Salon.

“While there are many traditional email marketing products, none are focused on content-driven engagement like Letterhead is,” said Nate Vasel, partner at LOVC. “We were impressed with the team’s vision for an owned audience future powered by AI and automation and their consistent execution to grow the business.”

Letterhead will use the funds to develop its platform further, expand its team, and accelerate growth as it continues to innovate how newsletters are produced and managed.

About LOVC:

LOVC is an early-stage venture fund investing in B2B software companies based in the Eastern US. Founded in 2016 by former entrepreneurs and headquartered in Florida, LOVC is now investing out of its $50M Fund II and typically leads $3–7M rounds with $1.5–2.5M checks in businesses with early commercial signals of product-market fit (typically $200K+ ARR). Our low-frequency and high-conviction investment approach (3-5 companies per year) allows us to be deeply collaborative and hands-on with the founders we partner with.

Contact Information:
media@lasolasvc.com

SOURCE Las Olas Venture Capital

WOBURN, Mass., Nov. 29, 2023 — Spear Bio Inc., a Harvard University biotech spin-off developing scalable solutions for ultrasensitive detection of protein biomarkers announced the completion of a raise of tens of millions of US dollars with its Seed Prime. The oversubscribed round was led by CDH Investments, with additional investments from earlier investors such as Maverick Ventures and YongHua Capital.

Spear Bio was co-founded in March 2021 as a spin-off from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute by Professor Peng Yin and Dr. Feng Xuan. The company is developing the next generation ultrasensitive immunodiagnostics and proteomics platform based on a breakthrough technology its founders developed and licensed from Harvard University: the Successive Proximity Extension Amplification Reaction, or SPEAR.

The SPEAR technology delivers two to three orders of magnitude higher sensitivity than current digital immunoassay platforms without the need for wash-steps or expensive proprietary readers thanks to its unique 2-factor authentication. SPEAR’s specially designed probes can differentiate sustained protein-to-protein contacts from transient interactions and translate “protein information” into DNA sequences with unprecedented specificity which can then be amplified and quantified with common qPCR devices.

The high specificity of SPEAR’s protein-to-DNA conversion combined with the exponential amplification of qPCR produces an extremely high signal-to-background ratio. It allows the detection of single digit counts of protein molecules in tiny sample volumes, down to a tenth of a microliter. Whether measuring low abundance biomarkers with microsampling techniques or carrying out a multitude of tests on precious samples with limited volumes, SPEAR is a powerful potential solution for both research applications and minimally invasive diagnostics.

Professor Peng Yin, Co-founder of Spear Bio, said “The SPEAR platform’s unique mechanism designed by Dr. Xuan achieves extreme sensitivity without the complexity typical of “single-molecule” technologies. SPEAR’s ability to quantify proteins at attomolar levels from sub-microliter sample will impact not only how protein biomarkers are measured clinically today but also how new ones will be discovered in the future. We hope Spear Bio can enable this technology to quickly benefit the research community and patients.”

Ultra-sensitive digital immunoassay platforms typically rely on extensive wash-steps, expensive proprietary readers, and high-affinity antibodies. By contrast, SPEAR has a wash-free workflow that can be easily automated with microfluidics or liquid handlers, runs on ubiquitous qPCR instruments, and does not require high-affinity antibodies to achieve high sensitivity. This gives SPEAR the unique advantage of being readily implementable and scalable in most laboratories.

Dr. Feng Xuan, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Spear Bio, stated “Our first goal is to bring SPEAR to every lab, and make it as routine as established technologies like ELISA and chemiluminescence. SPEAR’s extreme sensitivity will provide a unique solution for studying early-stage disease protein biomarkers with minimally-invasive micro-sampling technologies. With its ease of adoption, SPEAR will greatly accelerate new biomarkers’ discovery and validation, and eventually bring about early diagnoses of chronic diseases through less invasive, more efficient, and broadly accessible protein biomarkers monitoring.”

Spear Bio has successfully launched NAB-Sure™, its first assay and commercial proof-of-concept, for ultrasensitive quantification of SARS-Cov-2 neutralizing antibodies from challenging samples such as finger-stick dried blood spot (DBS) and nasal swabs. During the pandemic, NAB-Sure has been validated and adopted in major labs, enabling precise tracking of immunity, vaccine response, and COVID-19 sero-surveillance. Spear Bio is now focused on bringing to market ultrasensitive immunoassays for areas such as neurology, immunology, and oncology.

Dr. Dan Liu, Senior Partner of CDH Investments commented “Providing ultra-sensitivity in microsamples with a simple workflow through qPCR instruments is a very attractive solution since these are now nearly ubiquitous post-COVID. This will help accelerate adoption and increase impact to areas where ultra sensitivity and microsamples can make a significant difference such as infectious diseases, immunology, and neurology. For example, recently approved Alzheimer’s Disease therapies, together with the many in development, are creating a need for accurate, minimally invasive, and cost-effective blood-based screening. Spear Bio can meet this new market demand better than competitors.”

David Singer, Managing Partner of Maverick Ventures, and Spear Bio’s earliest investor, concluded “Spear Bio’s technology was validated and adopted early on by major commercial laboratories. Excitingly, customers have been enthusiastic with the performance of the SPEAR platform as well as with the ability to implement it at scale on standard lab equipment. This real-world evidence gave us confidence in Spear Bio’s commercial potential and momentum.”

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Spear Bio

BOSTON, Nov. 29, 2023 — Seacoast Capital (“Seacoast”), a lower-middle market non-control growth capital investor, announced today its recent investment in Focus Technology Solutions (“Focus” or the “Company”). Seacoast provided Focus with a combination of equity and debt to support a majority recapitalization of the Company by members of its management team and to provide working capital in support of its continued growth. In concert with the transaction, Doug Alexander stepped down as Focus’ CEO, but plans to continue his strategic relationship with the Company as a member of its Board of Managers. Focus’ prior CFO Chris Caprio was simultaneously promoted to CEO of the Company.

The financing marked the first investment out of Seacoast’s fifth fund, Seacoast Capital Partners V, L.P. (“Seacoast V”), a $280MM fund established to invest non-control equity and debt capital alongside of manager/owners of privately held businesses in support of growth, recapitalizations and management/shareholder buyouts. Seacoast held a closing on Seacoast V in August 2023. 

Focus, headquartered in Boston, MA, is an award-winning provider of hardware, software and managed IT and professional services to businesses across the U.S. The Company’s service offering includes managed security, outsourced IT helpdesk and data center services as well as cloud implementation/migration, cloud assessment, network buildout and data analytics/consulting services. Focus also offers IT software and equipment from leading global OEMs to provide customized, leading-edged solutions for the development of customers’ critical IT infrastructure.

Chris Caprio remarked, “We evaluated a number of potential equity and debt partners to support us in our management buyout and Seacoast’s unique focus on working directly with management teams in these types of situations was a major differentiating factor for us. Alan and the Seacoast team were instrumental in helping us navigate the complexities of the transaction and in them we found the perfect partner to help us accelerate our growth plan over the coming years.” 

Doug Alexander stated, “I’m excited for Chris and the rest of the management team. I am eager to continue working with Focus and Seacoast as a member of the Board and think the Company’s best days lie ahead. Seacoast was transparent throughout the entire process with us, they did what they said they were going to do, and ultimately, I believe they will be a great partner for Focus going forward.” 

Alan Rich, a Partner at Seacoast, added “We are thrilled to partner with Focus, a company that has garnered an excellent reputation within the managed IT services industry and is well-positioned to capitalize on attractive macro tailwinds, particularly within the cybersecurity space. The Company has assembled a very strong management team and we look forward to working together with them and Doug in his new role on the Board.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

About Focus Technology Solutions 

Founded in 1997 and based in Boston, MA, Focus is a leading information technology firm that offers organizations new ways to consume technology. By designing and implementing innovative IT solutions through personalized service, Focus delivers positive results that support its customers’ strategic vision. Focus’ team of experienced industry-certified solutions architects provides customized solutions specifically designed to address each client’s unique business requirements. 

With expertise in next-generation data center infrastructure, managed IT services, cloud solutions and cyber security, Focus is one of the top IT solutions providers in the Northeast. The Company has earned numerous awards and accolades, including CRN MSP Elite 150, CRN MSP Security 100, CRN Fast Growth 150, CRN Tech Elite 150, CRN Triple Crown Winner, Boston Business Journal’s Best Places to Work and Boston Business Journal Fast 50.

About Seacoast Capital

Founded in 1994, with offices in Boston, MA and San Francisco, CA, Seacoast Capital invests non-controlling capital in partnership with management in lower middle market private companies. Seacoast is industry agnostic and typically invests $5 million to $30 million of capital in companies with $10 million or more in revenue and $2 million or more of EBITDA. Capital is used to support growth, refinancings, acquisitions, family ownership and wealth transfers, shareholder liquidity events, and partnership or management buyouts. Geographically, Seacoast invests anywhere in the United States. Since its inception, Seacoast has managed over $1B of capital, which the firm has invested in 90+ transactions. Now managing its fifth fund, Seacoast continues to actively seek new investment opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.seacoastcapital.com.

SOURCE Seacoast Capital Managers LLC

With Fund III, Tola Capital will invest $230 million to fuel early-stage AI startups that change the way the world works

SEATTLE, Nov. 29, 2023 — Tola Capital, a venture capital firm investing in the next generation of enterprise software enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), today announced the close of Tola Capital III, LP at $230 million. The fund will be deployed to Seed and early-stage startups that are revolutionizing the enterprise software industry with the use of AI. The latest fund brings Tola Capital’s total funds raised to date to $688 million.

Tola Capital backs early-stage founders who are building the next wave of AI companies. The team has overseen more than a dozen exits from its portfolio companies, including Clipchamp (acquired by Microsoft), OSIsoft (acquired by AVEVA), hybris (acquired by SAP), and has sold portfolio companies to numerous other enterprise players including Oracle, Cisco, Verizon, Mastercard, and Rapid7.

Tola Capital was founded in 2010 by experienced software operators at the forefront of cloud computing’s rise. Prior to co-founding Tola Capital, managing director Sheila Gulati owned the enterprise IT strategy for Microsoft, launched the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, and ran the database and developer tools businesses. Gulati uses her deep knowledge of how software can change and grow businesses to help drive the growth of AI companies alongside her team. The Tola team is composed of former operators who built and led cloud and enterprise software businesses at Microsoft and also invested in, partnered with, or acquired dozens of now-leading enterprise software companies.

IDC forecasts the overall AI software market will approach $791.5 billion in revenue in 2025. Tola has been at the forefront of the rise of AI since its founding and invested in startups leveraging AI, including Pulumi, Klarity, Simpplr, and Nooks. Going forward the firm will use the new capital to invest in companies specializing in multiple areas of AI, including enterprise scaffolding for AI, responsible AI, AI security, app layer AI as well as others.

“The cloud was the catalyst for incredible value creation over the past decade. Having been at the forefront of that shift and opportunity, I foresee the same potential when it comes to AI, along with some key differences,” said Sheila Gulati, co-founder and managing director of Tola Capital. “AI will have a much broader impact – changing the way that we all work, creating tremendous productivity gains. It will also happen in a much faster timeframe. At Tola Capital, we are partnering with founders who are leading this transformation and ushering in the new world of work.”

Alexander Dreiling is the founder and CEO of Tola portfolio company Clipchamp which was acquired by Microsoft in 2021 and is now Microsoft’s core video product. Like many Founders in the Tola portfolio who have experienced liquidity events, Alexander is now an investor in Tola. “The Tola team was a true partner in our journey with Clipchamp, providing guidance and resources as we built out our go-to-market function and product roadmap for the enterprise. I am excited for the additional companies that will benefit from Tola’s third fund and expertise, just as we did.”

With its third fund, Tola Capital is aiming to invest in 25 to 30 companies globally. The average check size will range from $1 million to $4 million for Seed stage companies and $5 million to $15 million for Series A and B. The firm has already deployed capital to nine companies: Arcus, Bluebean, ESG Flo, FeatureByte, Fetcher, Holistic AI, Langsafe, Lumeus, and Zilla.

To learn more about Tola Capital, please visit www.tolacapital.com

About Tola Capital
Tola Capital is a venture capital firm that believes in the power of software, data, and AI to transform the way the world works. Founded in 2010 by experienced software operators at the forefront of cloud computing’s rise, the firm backs entrepreneurs who have enterprise technology experience and are building disruptive, industry transforming solutions with diverse teams. Tola Capital has successfully exited numerous startups, and continues to evolve as it supports founders into the era of AI. Visit www.tolacapital.com for more information.

SOURCE Tola Capital

LONDON, Nov. 29, 2023 — Paysend, a global fintech leader in international money transfers, has successfully raised an impressive $65 million in its latest funding round.

The investment round follows the partnership with Mastercard announced earlier this year, through which Paysend will enhance cross-border payments for SME’s via its Open Payments Network (OPN). In addition, Paysend has secured a strategic partnership with TelevisaUnivision, the world’s largest Spanish language media company. This innovative partnership is designed to target the lucrative USA–Latin America money-transfer corridors, and will see Paysend’s advertising featured on TelevisaUnivision’s network for the next three years, enhancing Paysend’s visibility and reach across the Hispanic community in the USA.

Existing investors, including Infravia Growth Capital, One Peak, and Hermes GPE Innovation Fund, also participated in the funding round, underscoring their continued confidence in Paysend’s mission and growth trajectory.

Since its inception in 2017, Paysend has experienced rapid expansion. The company’s integrated cross-border platform for businesses and consumers positions Paysend to capitalize on the $133 trillion market opportunity. Earlier this year, Paysend announced a number of strategic expansions, including the provision of digital payments for Western Union’s global consumer business.

Ronnie Millar, Co-Founder and CEO of Paysend, expressed gratitude for the continued support, stating, “This significant investment is a testament to the strength of Paysend’s vision: to build the best-in-class cross-borders solution for businesses and consumers, making money transfer simple for everyone. We are thrilled to welcome our new stakeholders, and we appreciate the unwavering support from our existing investors.”

Paysend’s latest funding round builds upon the success of its previous Series B round, where the company secured $125 million to accelerate the expansion of its global payments platform.

For media inquiries, please contact:

For further information visit https://paysend.com.
Media contact for Paysend: Rupert Bedell, [email protected] 

About Paysend
Paysend is a next-generation integrated global payment ecosystem, enabling consumers and businesses to pay and send money online anywhere, anyhow and in any currency. Paysend is UK-based and has global reach having been created in April 2017 with the clear mission to make money transfer simpler for everyone. Paysend now has over 8m registered customers and can send money to over 180 countries worldwide. As a global end-to-end payment platform, Paysend has its own global network of banks and international and local payment systems and has partnerships with the major international card networks as a principal member and certified processor.

SOURCE Paysend

The capital will accelerate Revela’s mission to deliver tech-powered solutions for owners and property managers of all sizes.

DETROIT, Nov. 29, 2023 — Revela, a leading property management solution, today announced that it has raised a $9 million Series A funding round to expand its product suite and meet the evolving needs of the real estate and property management industry.

FirstMark Capital led the round, with additional participation from Detroit Venture Partners, MetaProp, and Assurant Ventures. This marks Revela’s inaugural fundraising initiative since its founding. As a fully bootstrapped company, Revela has doubled its revenue each year for the past three years and maintained profitability despite market challenges.

This funding round validates Revela’s differentiated, proprietary solution that fills a clear gap in the market for owners and property managers. Revela offers the only comprehensive software solution in the space with a comprehensive API system, making the platform uniquely positioned to handle the complex and essential needs of the industry.

“Building our platform over the past decade allowed us to deeply understand the needs of our early customers and revealed an industry-wide hunger for accessible capital,” said Grant Drzyzga, Founder and CEO of Revela. “With this funding, we’re poised to provide essential liquidity into a traditionally illiquid market, ensuring owners get quick access to capital when they need it most – a pledge with the power to create a monumental impact.”

The funds will be used to strengthen existing operations and establish a unique banking-as-a-service platform and other financial products, making Revela the first and only property management software to offer lending capabilities embedded directly in the platform.

“Revela’s robust API has empowered us to rethink how we leverage data and how we want to share that data with our clients,” said William Dickson, President of Marketplace Homes and customer of Revela. “Offering extensive insights into nearly every part of our clients’ operations has proven invaluable to powering their growth.”

“We’re looking forward to supporting Revela’s growth as they shape the future of the industry,” said Adam Nelson, Partner at FirstMark. “By adding embedded fintech capabilities, Revela is breaking down the traditional barriers between capital and core business operations, and, in turn, creating a more valuable product to all stakeholders in the ecosystem with a fundamentally superior business model.”

About Revela
Revela is a leading property management solution designed to grow every corner of the property management industry. The only software in the space with a comprehensive API, Revela’s all-in-one platform provides access to an extensive suite of tools that power operations, portfolio growth, real-time insights into customer analytics, and more. For more information, visit www.revela.co.

SOURCE Revela

Led by Clarke Capital, the new funding round will accelerate the company’s drug discovery pipeline

AMERICAN FORK, Utah, Nov. 29, 2023 — Biolexis Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage AI-driven drug discovery company, announced today the successful closure of a $10 million Series A funding round. The investment was led by Clarke Capital, a prominent institutional investor and alternative investment firm.

The new funding will advance Biolexis’ development pipeline which includes a range of promising metabolic drug candidates. These drugs have the potential to tackle various metabolic disorders that affect millions of people worldwide and are linked to significant health complications such as obesity and diabetes.

“This financial backing from Clarke Capital is a testament to the potential of our metabolic drug portfolio,” said David Bearss, CEO of Biolexis. “Our science is on point and our team is ready to tackle the unmet needs within the metabolic disorder spectrum. With Clarke Capital’s support, we’re in a strong position to accelerate our drug development pipeline and move closer to bringing our solutions to patients.”

The Series A funding marks a significant milestone for Biolexis but also marks Clarke’s return to partner with Drs. Bearss and Vankayalapati, having been a major investor in their first company, Montigen Pharmaceuticals, a decade and a half ago before it was sold to a publicly traded company. The reteaming will allow the company to expand its operations and accelerate the clinical development of its key drug candidates. With the prevalence of metabolic diseases on the rise and current treatments in limited supply, the need for new and effective treatment options is more urgent than ever.

“At Clarke Capital, we’re committed to investing in companies poised to make a significant impact on healthcare,” said James Clarke, CEO of Clarke Capital. “Biolexis’ impressive approach to addressing metabolic disorders and other treatment-resistant conditions has the potential to change lives. We are overjoyed to support their mission and look forward to seeing the results of their groundbreaking work.”

To date, Drs. Bearss and Vankayalapati have filed more than 20 Investigational New Drugs (INDs) and have secured more than 100 patents. Using its unique AI-driven MolecuLern™ process, Biolexis has 40 active programs in discovery and 10 pipeline programs in the IND-enabling stages of development. The process, which targets any class of protein to identify novel chemical entities (NCEs) with drug-like characteristics and real wet-lab data validation, reduces the discovery and development timeline from years to months.

To learn more about Biolexis visit www.biolexistx.com.

About Biolexis

Biolexis Therapeutics is a privately held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing small molecules targeting cancers, immune-mediated, neurodegenerative, auto-immune, metabolic, and inflammatory diseases. Biolexis rapidly discovers and develops novel clinical candidates with unprecedented speed and accuracy through their proprietary MolecuLern AI-enabled drug discovery process.

About Clarke Capital

Clarke Capital is an alternative asset investment firm with a robust portfolio of successful companies. Clarke takes a “hands on” approach when partnering with visionary entrepreneurs with an aim to create and grow high-potential, industry transformative companies.

SOURCE Biolexis Therapeutics

Funding Will Help Meet the Growing Demand for BeCause Solutions from Global Travel Brands and Enterprise Companies

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Nov. 29, 2023 — BeCause, the Danish start-up transforming how the global hospitality, travel and tourism industries manage their sustainability data, announced today that it has secured $1.9 million (€1.75M) in seed funding from investors. The round, co-led by Denmark’s Ugly Duckling Ventures and Estonia’s Superangel.io, includes a $708,000 (€650K) open tail-end and the $1.9 million for strategic investors to join on equal terms.

“We have retained the possibility of adding another investor to this round and hope to find a partner that has experience with high-growth startups in the impact space, particularly those with a background in B2B SaaS models, travel and big data API, to help accelerate our mission even further” explains Frederik Steensgaard, BeCause co-founder and CEO.

With a $450,000 angel investment from earlier this year, BeCause has raised $2.6 million (€2.4M) to date. This latest installment will allow the company to grow at an accelerated pace as it continues to meet the demand for its solutions from major enterprise organizations and global travel brands, such as Booking.com, easyJet, Google, Radisson Hotels and TUI.

A Transformative Solution for Sustainability Data in Travel

In an era of heightened consumer scrutiny and regulatory compliance, BeCause enables hotels, travel brands and marketplaces to streamline, simplify and reduce the costs of managing their sustainability data. Backed by an AI-powered platform, BeCause eliminates repetitive, error-prone tasks such as manual data collection at the individual property level and automates communication between hotels, industry organizations, green certification entities and booking platforms, freeing up valuable resources and leading to greater transparency between stakeholders and consumers.

Serving as a centralized hub for all sustainability data, BeCause results in a sixfold faster return on sustainability investments, amounting to a potential savings of millions of dollars for a typical hotel chain in the first year alone.

“We’re very excited about BeCause’s ability to improve sustainability data collection and reporting for the hospitality and tourism industries. It’s a massive addressable market which thus far has lacked a purpose-built solution with the analytical capabilities to help players supercharge their positive impact on the people, planet, and profits,” says Andreas Green Rasmussen, General Partner at Ugly Duckling Ventures.

According to a June forecast from research and advisory company Forrester, the cumulative global green market spend is expected to total $325 trillion from now until 2050, with travel and transportation commanding 35% or about $114 trillion of that spend by the end of this period. By adopting the BeCause platform, hospitality, travel and tourism brands can responsibly capitalize on this demand.

“We came in as a co-lead on this fundraising round because we believe in the power of BeCause to increase certified sustainability and decrease greenwashing in the accommodations sector. We are also very impressed by how fast the team has built a product that some of the world’s biggest brands are comfortable using,” explains Kärt Siilats, Venture Partner, Superangel.io.

An Impressive and Growing Roster of Clients

BeCause currently has over 20,000 hotels streaming sustainability data through its platform. It also counts over 50 certifiers, including GreenKey, and 15 travel booking marketplaces, including Booking.com, amongst its users.

“This newest round of funding allows us to continue our work with stakeholders in the hospitality industry and gives us the ability to respond to the massive interest in our sustainability data hub from adjacent industries like corporate travel and destinations and meetings,” says Steensgaard.

“We’re thankful to Ugly Duckling Ventures, Superangel and all our investors for putting their faith in us and our solution, which is critical to making travel greener and reducing its impact on the environment,” he adds.

Additional investors in this round include serial exit entrepreneur Sean Brown (UK); Director, Business Development and Partnerships for fintech unicorn Circle.com, Sean Evans (UK); and private investor Patrick Patrong (DK).

Securing Funding in a Precarious Climate

The nearly $2 million raise for BeCause comes at a challenging time for start-ups, with the amount of capital down 38% from Q2 to Q3. Carta, the equity management platform, also recently revealed that it had had the worst quarter on record for company shutdowns. BeCause is flying in the face of that trend.

“Though we are just beginning our journey, the fact that we have signed some of the biggest names in travel and are more than anything preoccupied with handling non-stop demand reflects the pressing need for a solution like BeCause. We’re proud that through better sustainability data management, we can do our part to reduce the harmful impacts of travel on the planet and instead help sustainable choices flow effortlessly,” said Steensgaard.

For more information about BeCause or to speak with CEO and Co-founder Frederik Steensgaard, please get in touch with Vanessa Horwell at [email protected].

About BeCause

BeCause is an enterprise software company that streamlines the flow of sustainability data and creates synergies between different stakeholders in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries, empowering them to make decisions that result in positive, responsible change for people, the planet, and their profits. BeCause works with over 20,000 hotels, including brands like Radisson, certification entities like GreenKey, industry partners like the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and marketplaces like Booking.com. For more information, visit because.eco.

SOURCE BeCause

Sustainability accounting, electric vehicles, battery tech and agritech key growth drivers

SINGAPORE, Nov. 29, 2023 — As the landmark COP28 (28th United Nations Climate Change conference) kicks off this week, the development of climate tech to bring the region closer to the 2015 Paris Agreement targets is in the spotlight. Golden Gate Ventures, a venture capital (VC) fund in Southeast Asia (SEA) founded by Silicon Valley natives, and Venture East, one of India’s longest-standing VC firms, have co-authored “The Essence of Climate Tech for India and Southeast Asia“ report.

The report dives deep into how economics, stakeholders, government policies and business models have aligned in recent years, culminating in a rare inflection point that will see key verticals in the climate tech sector grow dramatically along the sustainability road to 2030. In 2022, over US$70 billion was pumped into climate tech investments, nearly double 2021’s record total^[1]. SEA and India net a humble 7 percent, but this is set to change dramatically in the next 5 years.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented moment in the history of climate tech. Every single government in SEA and India is doubling down on market-making policy shifts for the first time; key technologies like sustainability accounting, vertical farming, energy efficiency, and electric mobility will reach mainstream adoption in the next five years, and one-fifth of the world’s largest corporations with commitments to net-zero emissions are making impactful changes to their operations. We are on the threshold of a climate tech boom in SEA and India,” said Michael Lints, Partner at Golden Gate Ventures. 

“This report gives investors and the startup community the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of climate tech. From policies to players to the right climate tech propositions, this is literally a blueprint to succeed in the climate tech boom,” said Rishika Madan, Investment Analyst at Venture East.

Cracking the Code for Sustainability Accounting

Across SEA and India, the strong regulatory momentum that started in 2019 has taken hold. Tougher requirements on sustainability accounting affect close to 5000 major corporations, creating huge opportunities in developing tools for measurement and reporting. Water, waste and carbon accounting are complex, data-driven areas where there is strong demand for more efficient technologies and services to enable corporations to measure more accurately and frequently.

The policy changes and gradual shifting to a uniform carbon trading system in SEA and India have started a positive chain reaction across the carbon market ecosystem. The total global carbon market is slightly over US$3 billion today and is estimated to grow to a whopping US$33 billion by 2030. Globally, offset demand today is US$1 billion and will grow to US$25 billion by 2030, with India and SEA accounting for US$10 billion^[2].

New Opportunities in Electric Mobility and Battery Technology

Regulators across India and SEA are rolling out a range of both demand and supply-side incentives and increasing charging infrastructure with a clear goal of not only increasing adoption but making electric mobility mainstream. The electric vehicle market is disrupting the traditional automotive market, creating a more level playing field for new market entrants when it comes to the entire electric vehicle value chain – from parts production to battery technology. The report dives deep into the regulatory environment in each market in SEA and India, and the consumption patterns, bringing into focus immediate growth opportunities, including the development of the two-wheeler and light commercial vehicle categories. 

The demand for battery technology is rising in tandem with the growing electric vehicle market, with some bright spots for India and SEA. Global metal reserves are primarily concentrated in specific regions with India claiming the limelight as the second-largest aluminium producer in the world; Indonesia emerging as the world’s largest producer of nickel and the second-largest producer of cobalt; and Philippines contributing a growing proportion of the global cobalt supply.

With governments across SEA and India offering incentives to boost battery production and recycling, apart from materials mining, opportunities are emerging in the region for battery management software, materials extraction in batter recycling and second life applications.

Inefficiencies in SEA’s Agriculture Industry are Creating New Opportunities 

The climate discussion has put new pressures on agritech to be more efficient and for food security to increase in sophistication at speed – creating new areas for growth in the region.

Agriculture contributes approximately 10 per cent of the GDP in SEA but employs over 20 per cent of the population; agri-related emissions in the region have grown by a whopping 140 per cent in the last 50 years. The inefficiencies that are rife across the agriculture value chain in SEA are creating new opportunities in improving agricultural inputs to farmers, more environmentally efficient B2B market linkages for produce, and farm advisory services to adapt and even pre-empt climate change impact on output and resources.

Agricultural inputs, outputs and farm advisory services are estimated to be a US$50 billion underserved market in SEA alone based on 2022 estimations^[3]. Policy tailwinds driving market access, improvements in agricultural productivity and adoption of more sophisticated technology will further propel SEA’s agritech sector.

“The underlying theme across the report is that the climate tech discussion has created a demand for greater sophistication in sustainability accounting, electric mobility and agritech – the green gold of India and Southeast Asia for the next decade,” said Michael Lints.

Note: The following is the link to download a copy of “The Essence of Climate Tech for India and Southeast Asia” report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tWAph9XKxxTGn5KE2Tt7R-c1MH0tqgkA/view?usp=drivesdk 

About Golden Gate Ventures

Golden Gate Ventures is a global venture capital firm powering technology and innovation from Southeast Asia. Founded in 2011, Golden Gate Ventures combines the knowledge and experience of Silicon Valley with the passion and dynamism of Southeast Asia. For over a decade we’ve proudly backed some of the region’s most audacious founders and companies behind Southeast Asia’s incredible growth story, such as Carousell, Coda Payments, Carro, Xendit, Paper.id, Alodokter, Homage, Hijra, Rukita, and Locofy. We empower the audacious. For more information, visit goldengate.vc.

SOURCE Golden Gate Ventures