A year on from the platform’s official launch, the disruptive sustainability startup, Greener, has successfully closed its bridge round with £113,000 of venture capital funding from SFC Capital. The team successfully raised £142k in pre-seed funding last May, bringing the total to £255k to take their algorithmic matchmaking platform live and advance their mission of making sustainability accessible and affordable for small businesses.
As the team works to put sustainability at the core of every supply chain decision in the food and drink industry, the injection will be used to fuel the growth of their platform and reach more small business owners and sustainability innovators.
Attracting investment for the sustainability startup
Founded with the goal of making sustainability affordable and accessible for all small businesses, the B2B matchmaking platform enables SMEs in the food & drink industry to easily build tailored supply chains by connecting those seeking and providing sustainable solutions.
Co-Founder and Chief of Science, Mehrnaz Tajmir, knows how revolutionary the product could be for businesses with more limited resources. “The majority of small business owners want to do more in this area, but in a challenging industry with razor-thin margins sustainability can easily become an unaffordable luxury,” she said. “Those are the businesses we work for every day.”
Mehrnaz, who was recently featured in our list of women who have raised investment in the South West, adds, “ultimately, sustainability cannot be improved in isolation, whether by a single firm or a single person. Sustainability is about building better supply chains and working with the right partners. But finding those partners is actually really hard if you don’t know what you’re looking for, and knowing where to start – especially after a year like this – is daunting. That’s where we decided we can help.”
The investors at SFC were drawn to that mission; “What motivated us to get involved with Greener is the inherent scalability and novel nature of the platform. The founding team has an ambitious vision, and this product has the potential to impact a huge number of businesses all around the world. We are excited to share our expertise and be part of this journey.”
SFC Capital is a leading early-stage investment firm providing capital and support to British startups. Recognised by PitchBook Data as the UK’s most active VC, the team have supported more than 300 startups to date including Onfido, Cognism, and Transcend Packaging.
Since launching on Earth Day 2021, Greener has gained a foothold in over 15 countries and an average growth rate of 10% per week. “This funding is a statement of our ambition as a company,” said Co-Founder and CEO Dan Yates. “We’ve proven that our tech is powerful, and that users are excited by what we’re building – more than 80% of them would recommend Greener to another business. Our job now is to prove that we can grow, and the whole team is energized to meet this challenge.”
Already Greener is investing in that future, bringing on expertise in marketing and business development as they build towards a record year of user sign-ups and a substantial seed round later in 2022.
Greener’s initial funding came in part from the Innovate UK Sustainable Innovation Fund who have continued to support the team through workshops, mentorship, and events. In 2021, the startup was admitted to the Green Tech Alliance and shortlisted in the Sustainability category of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
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