Seed: Carbon credit insurer CarbonPool secures € 13 million

Zurich — Carbon­Pool, the world’s first insu­rance company with a carbon credit balance sheet, has closed a € 13 million seed round one year after its foun­da­tion. The finan­cing round was co-led by Heart­core Capi­tal and Vorwerk Ventures and included HCS Capi­tal, Revent Ventures and former members of the Execu­tive Board of insu­rance giant Alli­anz, Axel Theis and Chris­tof Mascher.

Foun­ded by former Alli­anz execu­ti­ves Coen­raad Vrolijk, Nandini Wilcke (photo © carbonpool.earth) and Frede­ric Olbert, Carbon­Pool aims to acce­le­rate invest­ments in carbon credits, which are criti­cal to achie­ving net zero, by provi­ding carbon credit insu­rance with bene­fits in kind.

Carbon­Pool offers in-kind credit insu­rance to ensure that compa­nies can guaran­tee the carbon credits they purchase. This insu­rance is the crucial miss­ing compo­nent that unlocks invest­ment in carbon credit projects. This market is curr­ently subject to a low level of confi­dence due to the high percei­ved risks

Almost half of the world’s 2,000 leading compa­nies plan to achieve net zero emis­si­ons by 2030. This is part of the acce­le­ra­ted efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of global net zero by 2050. Many of these compa­nies, along with thou­sands of others, rely on carbon credits to achieve their net zero targets. Follo­wing signi­fi­cant turbu­lence in the carbon markets, credit inte­grity, proper risk write-downs and the accu­racy of results are criti­cal to demons­trate to inves­tors, regu­la­tors and other stake­hol­ders that these promi­ses repre­sent real envi­ron­men­tal gains.

“CarbonPool’s in-kind services make it unique among insu­r­ers in offe­ring protec­tion not only to carbon credit holders in the event of natu­ral disas­ters or tech­no­logy collapse, but also in ensu­ring that carbon credits live up to their promise, giving buyers peace of mind and ensu­ring that they can meet their net zero targets,” said “, Coen­raad Vrolijk, former regio­nal CEO of Alli­anz Africa and co-foun­­der and CEO of the Mana­ging Direc­tor of CarbonPool.

” Insu­rance accounts for 5 to 10 percent of the turno­ver of most mature markets, but CO2 certi­fi­cate trading has only just begun. A sector that despera­tely needs the credi­bi­lity that estab­lished finan­cial controls such as insu­rance can provide, said Chris­tian Jepsen, foun­ding part­ner at Heart­core. ” We are deligh­ted to support a world-class team of climate scien­tists, CO2 specia­lists and, most importantly, insu­rance experts with a combi­ned expe­ri­ence of 60 years in global under­wri­ting. I am confi­dent that they will bring much needed profes­sio­na­liza­tion to this sector. ”

“CarbonPool’s offe­ring gives buyers, deve­lo­pers and inves­tors in carbon projects the confi­dence needed to invest at scale and build the carbon removal indus­try we need,” said Dr. Domi­nik Stein­küh­ler, Part­ner at Vorwerk Ventures. ” We were hugely impres­sed by the exper­tise and track record of the Carbon­Pool foun­ders and are deligh­ted to support such an ambi­tious and focu­sed team. Their inno­va­tive approach goes beyond typi­cal corpo­rate insu­rance and protects the earth’s carbon footprint. ”

CarbonPool’s insu­rance license appli­ca­tion is under­way in Switz­er­land and the company is alre­ady offe­ring valua­tions and pre-agree­­ments to clients such as corpo­ra­ti­ons, insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors and carbon certi­fi­cate deve­lo­pers. It is also in discus­sion with govern­ment bodies, inclu­ding the United Nati­ons and the State of Cali­for­nia, sharing perspec­ti­ves on how insu­rance can solve some of the industry’s key chal­lenges, such as ensu­ring the perma­nence of carbon removal from the atmosphere.

” We are very exci­ted to invest in Carbon­Pool. As a VC with a deep focus on insur­tech, we believe in the power of inno­va­tion to address the pres­sing chal­lenges of our time, CarbonPool’s commit­ment to miti­ga­ting climate-rela­­ted risks fits perfectly with our vision for the future of the insu­rance indus­try,” said Alex Horvitz, CEO of HCS Capi­tal.

About Carbon­Pool

Carbon­Pool helps the company achieve net zero by provi­ding property insu­rance for fail­ure to meet net zero obli­ga­ti­ons due to defi­cits and rever­sals, busi­ness inter­rup­ti­ons and natu­ral disas­ters that either reduce the amount of carbon dioxide removals or inad­ver­t­ently return carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

CarbonPool’s team of insu­rance execu­ti­ves, climate scien­tists, weather mode­lers, geograph­ers and engi­neers assess each risk to build custo­mi­zed risk models. In addi­tion to CarbonPool’s own capi­tal, the premi­ums coll­ec­ted from each custo­mer are inves­ted in high-quality CO2 removal projects to provide bene­fits in kind. www.carbonpool.earth

About Vorwerk Ventures

Vorwerk Ventures is an inde­pen­dent € 150 million venture capi­tal fund. We invest in foun­ders with sustainable busi­ness models that have a posi­tive impact. We are defi­ned by a strong commit­ment to consu­­mer-orien­­ted digi­tal compa­nies, but we also go beyond this and invest in selec­ted B2B compa­nies that match our indus­try exper­tise. Find out more: 
https://vorwerkventures.com/

About Heart­Core Capital

Heart­core Capi­tal is an early-stage venture capi­tal fund foun­ded in Denmark in 2007 with offices in Copen­ha­gen, Stock­holm, Berlin and Paris. We are a multi-product fund with 5 early-stage funds, 2 growth funds and 1 mana­ged Web3 fund. Our cumu­la­tive tied-up capi­tal is appro­xi­m­ately € 770 million. We are Euro­pean by origin, but globally orien­ted. Our team compri­ses nine natio­na­li­ties and speaks ten languages. To date, we have inves­ted in over 100 start-up teams from 13 count­ries. We have supported some of the largest cate­­gory-defi­­ning compa­nies in Europe, such as Tink, Neo4j, Boozt, Ernst­haft and Travel­Perk. www.heartcore.com

About HCS Capital

HCS Capi­tal is an insur­tech, fintech and cyber­se­cu­rity invest­ment fund foun­ded in 2017 and based in Miami. It invests mainly in North America, Latin America and Israel. The aim of the fund is to support tech­no­logy start-ups in beco­ming scalable, sustainable compa­nies with a social impact. HCS Capital’s focus is not only on inves­t­ing, but also on crea­ting an ecosys­tem where port­fo­lio start­ups can inter­act and receive finan­cial, stra­te­gic, human and tech­no­lo­gi­cal support from the HCS Capi­tal team. https://www.hcscapital.com

About Revent Ventures

Revent is a €60 million early-stage VC fund that invests first checks in mission-driven foun­ders across Europe. We are looking for step-change tech­no­lo­gies and finan­cial and data infra­struc­ture provi­ders to build the struc­tures that connect markets in the areas of climate, health­care and econo­mic empower­ment. https://www.revent.vc/