Optera – a leader in ESG and carbon management software – recently announced $12 million in Series A funding led by Next Frontier Capital with participation from Blackhorn Ventures, Mucker Capital, Overture, Engage, Massive, SaaS Ventures, Valo Ventures, AngelList, and Stout Street Capital. And Optera delivers carbon management software that enables companies to reduce the climate impacts of their operations, supply chains, and products.
This funding round comes at a pivotal time in the sustainability sector as the SEC and EU are establishing climate disclosure rules and businesses across the globe are seeking solutions to help decarbonize and de-risk their operations and value chains over the coming decade.
Optera provides an ESG and carbon management platform that enables companies to follow through on bold climate action. The platform currently tracks emissions associated with more than $180 billion in supply chain spend. Optera connects customers to their value chain and provides expert, tailored support informed by decades of experience. And through work with partners such as the Responsible Business Alliance, the company is poised to scale its impact across sector-wide networks. Last year, the company grew its team by more than 250% and quadrupled its number of customers. Corporations like Dell and Williams Sonoma trust Optera to propel their meaningful climate action forward.
The Series A funding round will enable Optera to accelerate its product innovation and grow the sales and marketing teams to reach a global scale. Adrian Tuck, former CEO of clean energy technology provider Uplight, will join the board to support Optera’s further growth and development. And in addition to new board member Tuck, who brings a wealth of experience growing successful software companies, Blackhorn Ventures Managing Partner Melissa Cheong will formally move into a board role, bringing with her extensive cleantech investing experience.
KEY QUOTES:
“The biggest businesses around the globe are actively transitioning to the low-carbon economy. It is no longer a question of whether this transition will happen but whether it will happen quickly enough. Optera’s platform enables global companies to quantify and manage their biggest sources of emissions with greater accuracy, confidence, and actionability. We are proud to have Next Frontier Capital as a returning investor who, along with new partners, will enable Optera to scale our solution at the rate necessary to support the global transition to the low-carbon future.”
– Tim Weiss, co-founder and CEO of Optera
“Optera plays an important role in Zayo’s plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. With Optera’s help in emissions data collection and analysis, we completed our scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reporting for calendar year 2021 and improved our CDP score. With Optera’s leading software solution to streamline such data collection and analysis, Zayo has greater confidence that we’re on the leading edge and making the ESG strides we’ve committed to – backed up by data our stakeholders can trust.”
– Mike Nold, EVP of Corporate Development & Strategy for Zayo, a leading global communications infrastructure provider
“Optera is driving innovation and change in ESG, making it easier for corporations to manage their decarbonization journey more effectively – especially across their value chains. By making emissions data actionable, Optera is instilling confidence in its customers that they can report accurately and make progress towards net-zero initiatives. We see tremendous value in Optera’s solutions, which is why we have increased our investment and will continue to be a partner in their future growth.”
– Kirsten Suddath, general partner at Next Frontier Capital
“I believe Optera is positioned to be one of the biggest and most impactful startups to come out of Colorado. The quality of the Optera team and their technology has positioned them to lead the ESG software market and directly influence how the corporate sector achieves net zero emissions.”
– Adrian Tuck
