Company’s marketplace platform launches world’s first public sale of Carbon Forwards tokens; enabling transparent investments in tokenized carbon credits from verified climate projects
BERLIN and CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Jan. 26, 2023 — Senken, the world’s largest climate finance trading platform of on-chain carbon credits, today announced that it has raised USD $7.5 million in new funding, the most significant capital raise in its industry, led by Obvious Ventures and the launch of the world’s first public sale of tokenized Carbon Forwards. Participating investors included Offline Ventures, Inflection, Kraken Ventures and Climate Capital. The funds will be used to power a transparent and liquid marketplace for the purchase, sale, and retirement of carbon credits which were previously transacted on an opaque and fragmented market.
Founded in 2021, Senken’s corresponding project credits can be bought, traded, and used to offset carbon emissions by companies looking to make impactful contributions to the climate crisis. By using blockchain technology, Senken provides its customers with additional security and transparency at the data level to ensure the quality and integrity of the offset projects. Globally, there has been strong consensus that eliminating carbon emissions is key to combating climate change. However, the path to getting there has been challenging and unstable.
The launch of Carbon Forwards on the Senken marketplace enables transparent investments in tokenized carbon credits from verified climate projects. Carbon Forwards, a new financial instrument, allows pre-funding of climate projects that are still in development for a reduced price. These Forwards allow organizations to hedge their carbon emissions and manage their exposure to carbon prices. Senken has initiated a pilot with Vlinder who will provide 500tCO2 of forward carbon credits. These Carbon Forward credits will enable funding to reforest mangroves in Kenya. The Vlinder Kenya Blue Carbon project is a high impact restoration effort with an emission removal capacity of 731,165 tons that aims to revitalize 1,500 hectares of severely degraded mangroves in Kenya. As the world continues to focus on reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change, Carbon Forwards can help businesses focused on lessening their environmental impact by controlling financial risks and planning towards net zero.
Despite current hyped-up demand, the carbon market is still nascent, but has enormous potential as it is expected to be worth USD $100B by 2030. A record number of investors and companies determined to transform their businesses are embracing net-zero ambitions. Therefore, there is a need for a marketplace that is transparent, reliable, and robust to combat manipulation and exploitation. In order to ensure longevity, stability, and make meaningful change towards climate solutions, Senken’s unique and progressive marketplace can educate and build the trust that is needed to be truly sustainable.
“Senken is looking to mobilize USD $10 billion in capital towards climate projects by 2030,” said Adrian Wons, co-founder and CEO of Senken. “We have developed a platform that reduces friction in the market with lowered transaction costs which in turn redirects climate funding into projects that will transparently and effectively remove carbon from our atmosphere or demonstrably avoid carbon emissions. We are excited to launch the world’s first public sale of Carbon Forward tokens, which will facilitate the pre-funding of climate projects that are still in development. This is key to helping organizations hedge their carbon emissions and manage exposure to carbon prices. It is especially rewarding to our organization that the launch of our first Carbon Forwards aims to contribute to the high impact restoration effort of severely degraded mangroves in Kenya.”
“In order to drive a future global economy that is more efficient and carbon-free, we need new frameworks and solutions to help finance the massive changes that are required,” said Andrew Beebe, managing director, Obvious Ventures. “Adrian and the team have created a powerful new model for carbon investment in a short period of time and we are proud to lead this investment round.”
The Senken marketplace offers users access to more than 20 million tokenized carbon credits from verified climate projects. Project information, ratings, trade, pricing, and sensor technology is presented in a clear way, which makes it easy to compare, invest, and retire credits on-chain. Senken’s smart order routing mechanism can unlock silos of carbon credits, therefore, customers are charged only 1/10 of the competitors fees through offerings that are 10x the amount with the highest transparency. This makes Senken’s marketplace very compelling and interesting not only for corporates but also for institutional investors seeking exposure to this rapidly growing asset class.
“Senken aims to solve the known problems of fragmentation, bad user experience, high costs and lack of transparency. We are looking to make climate finance accessible for everyone, encouraging millions of businesses to invest in real solutions to combat and make a serious impact towards climate change,” added Wons.
Recently, Senken has been accepted to the Estainium Association (estainium.eco), a German Association of major corporates, which educates and advises users and companies on how to effectively reduce and compensate for climate-negative impacts with members like Siemens, Merck, NTT Data, Faber & Castell, and TUV Sud.
To read more about Senken’s Carbon Forwards tokens, check out its blog post here.
About Senken
Founded in 2021, Senken is climate-oriented and action-driven. The company is made up of engineers and entrepreneurs, designers and academics, innovation practitioners and investment professionals, ecosystem shapers and creative voices, united in the belief that something needs to be done in the face of climate change. For more information on Senken, please https://www.senken.io/
About Obvious Ventures
Obvious Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in startups and entrepreneurs reimagining trillion-dollar industries through a world-positive lens. Since launching in 2014, Obvious has backed over 90 companies using technology to create a smarter, healthier, more sustainable world. The fund has led investments in breakthrough companies such as Beyond Meat, Olly, Virta Health, and Recursion. Obvious was co-founded by Ev Williams, James Joaquin, and Vishal Vasishth. More information is available at obvious.com.
SOURCE Senken
