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How a Trip to the Alps Inspired the Idea for Carbonfuture: Announcing Our Series A Funding with SIX

Today, we're thrilled to announce a significant milestone in Carbonfuture’s journey: the successful close of our Series A funding round, led by SIX. This achievement is a testament to our vision and the progress we've made in building a reliable and scalable carbon removal market.

How It All Began

Hannes and Matthias (2020)

Our story began in an unexpected place—the breathtaking mountains of Engelberg, Switzerland. As we enjoyed the stunning views from the summit, it hit us: the climate crisis demands urgent action, and carbon removal holds the power to make a real difference. But for that potential to be realized and for these technologies to truly make a difference, they need to be scaled effectively. We realized that solving this problem required more than innovative carbon removal technologies; it needed a robust infrastructure to support and scale them, much like the financial systems we’re familiar with. This idea was based on a carbon removal financing framework developed by Hans-Peter Schmidt and Hansjörg Lerchenmüller in 2019.

That moment in the Swiss Alps was the starting point for Carbonfuture—a vision to create a market where carbon removal can scale up with integrity and efficiency ensuring these efforts have a real impact on the planet.

Why We Built Carbonfuture 

When we started Carbonfuture in 2020, our mission was clear: to create a system that ensures carbon removal is not only effective but also trustworthy. With our backgrounds—Hannes with his deep experience in financial markets and global auditing, and Matthias with his expertise in enterprise software architecture—we set out to address the critical issues of integrity, risk management, and scalability.

From the outset, we recognized that collaboration across the entire ecosystem was essential to achieving this mission. We’ve partnered closely with project developers, carbon removal suppliers, third-party verifiers, standard-setting organizations, corporations with ambitious climate goals, and others to build a network of dedicated actors who share our commitment to creating a transparent and trustworthy carbon removal market.

Today, our MRV solution integrates the entire carbon removal lifecycle, from the initial CDR project support and due diligence to rigorous digital tracking and third-party verification and certification by a standard. This ensures that carbon removal credits meet the highest bar for quality and reliability. 

The Carbonfuture Team (2024)

How SIX Strengthens Our Vision 

Having SIX as our lead investor is a game-changer. Their reputation as a regulated and trusted financial institution validates our model and signals to the market that Carbonfuture’s systems are aligned with financial sector standards. With SIX’s support, expertise, and extensive network, we’re set to enhance our products and seamlessly integrate into both voluntary and regulated markets, accelerating growth and market access for our supply-side partners.

Looking Ahead

With this new funding, we’re excited to expand our Carbonfuture MRV+ solution, onboard new carbon removal technologies, and grow our reach. Our goal remains to facilitate the removal of gigatonnes of carbon with integrity and efficiency. We’re grateful for the support that has brought us here and excited for what’s next. Thank you for joining us on this journey!

Read more in the press release

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