CNaught – the first science-based and trust-centered seller of carbon credits – recently announced a $2.25 million pre-seed round led by Greycroft. The additional participating investors include Carthona Capital, Long Run Capital, and several angel investors.
Since 2004, businesses and individuals worldwide have purchased over 3.3 billion tons of carbon credits, spending an estimated $2B in 2021 alone. And now, the majority of Forbes Global 2000 Companies publicly state net zero goals, and 97% of them get there in part through carbon credits. The voluntary carbon credit market will hit $50 billion by 2030.
Since the market is opaque, confusing, and inconsistent, buyers are afraid to buy credits that underperform and leave them open to lawsuits and public criticism – both unacceptable risks for business purchasers with publicly reported sustainability goals to meet. Unlike existing products, CNaught now makes it easy for companies to purchase a blended, science-backed portfolio of carbon credits with flat, usage-based pricing. CNaught’s transparent approach, including deep project research and due diligence – enables companies to have confidence they are driving meaningful climate impact with their carbon credit purchases.
Since the soft launch in April 2023, CNaught has retired over 10,000 tons of carbon credits on behalf of dozens of customers. Those customers have also committed to thousands of tons of future credit purchases. The initial customers include Pure Insurance, DuckDuckGo, Homebound, Thrive Home Builders, Canopy, Hitch, and Zeelo.
In the coming months, CNaught will expand its sales outreach globally to enterprises of all sizes and build on its momentum with partners who want to offer carbon offsetting to their end users.
KEY QUOTES:
“CNaught was founded to get more companies off the sidelines by making the process of taking climate action as simple as possible. We provide an ‘easy button’ for carbon credits that allows customers to purchase a diversified, science-backed portfolio of carbon credits in minutes. CNaught gives them confidence that they are taking real climate action.”
— Mark Chen, co-founder and CEO of CNaught
“So many climate tech startups are purely vision-based, offering solutions that are years away from reality. CNaught offers impact now. They demonstrated product market fit early on, achieving impressive customer traction and revenue growth. The team has decades of experience simplifying complex supplier marketplaces at Rev.com, Thumbtack and Uber, and it shows. They have built a simple-to-use product that solves a critical customer pain point. I believe CNaught is what companies and consumers want and what the climate needs now.”
— Will Szczerbiak, Partner at Greycroft
