Based in Berlin, CEEZER is on a mission to provide corporations with enhanced access to the voluntary carbon market. The startup just secured €4.2 million to fuel its growth plan and help more companies drive forward net-zero ambitions.
European businesses and organizations are currently in the process of making themselves carbon neutral. This daunting but necessary process requires offsetting or reducing their carbon emissions. Many companies have compliance targets that push them to make this change, which recently began and has only recently been implemented.
CEEZER based in Berlin makes it easy for corporations to access the carbon market. Their offering allows companies to combine both removal and avoidance credits into impact-optimized portfolios.
New Investment
CEEZER announced that they closed a €4.2 million round led by Carbon Removal Partners with participation from previous investors Norrsken VC and Picus Capital.
CEEZER’s platform and offerings impressed two climate and carbon removal specialists after they closed a seven-figure pre-seed round in April of this year. This extension allowed CEEZER to continue working on their platform.
Magnus Drewelies, founder and CEO of Kyllo, said “we are very excited to partner with two of the most impressive climate investors alongside our existing partner Picus. We believe this partnership will further elevate the developing climate tech ecosystem.”
Oliver Heinrich of Picus Capital stated, “We’re pleased to continue our journey with CEEZER. The CEEZER team has seen a lot of positive growth in the last few months, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.”
Democratizing The Carbon Market
CEEZER provides access to and support for the complicated carbon market through its platform. The tool allows organizations to work with high-quality carbon projects that are guided by data. This enables companies to maximize the impact of their net-zero ambitions. CEEZER was founded in 2021.
Buying negative emissions credits can be a difficult process. Companies have to consider several things when purchasing credits, including which one to buy and whether or not they’re legitimate. Since this is a growing need in the business world, more options will likely become available in the near future.
It’s difficult for businesses to consider risk, budget and impact when balancing these issues. This is because there are multiple standards running at the same time, inconstant information on credit quality, and a price range between $5 and $500 per ton. Consequently, many companies have struggled to overcome these challenges.
In the past, unscrupulous resellers took advantage of the opacity of the market to make significant margins through arbitrage. This forced buyers to pay a lot for low-quality credits; however, most of these funds ended up in the middle. Consequently, this posed significant risks for anyone using credits that needed to be reported.
CEEZER provides detailed information about the carbon market in over 1.5 million data points. This allows buyers to access information about the availability and price of credits. It also allows sellers to connect with buyers directly instead of selling credits through third-party brokers. Sellers can even sell credits from unfinished projects through CEEZER.
The easy access to a variety of carbon credits makes a positive impact for every dollar spent in the market. Additionally, sellers no longer need to create contracts specific to each buyer; instead, they can use a standardized contract framework. Finally, buyers can confidently report on the quality of their portfolio.
Tove Larsson, a General Partner at Norrsken VC, expressed her approval of CEEZER’s team and approach to the carbon credits market. She said that CEEZER’s focus on the supply side of this market is what impressed her the most. Plus, CEEZER’s platform helps project owners scale and manage their solutions that reduce carbon— which addresses one of the primary obstacles in this industry.
Plans To Grow
CEEZER currently serves over 50 corporations; some are startups in Europe and the US, while others are DAX30 companies. Additionally, the Berlin-based startup is working with Carbon Built, a project developer, and has more than 200k tons of daily available volume across all relevant credit categories.
CEEZER’s new investment will help the company grow its sourcing and removal teams. This will make removal technology more accessible to corporate buyers and make long-term offtake agreements easier to find. CEEZER will also increase their product offerings to support sellers and buyers in finding short-term agreements and planning for a future with supply constraints.
Carbon Removal Partners says, “CEEZER gives buyers of corporate carbon a transparent tool for high-impact compensation solutions. The VCM approach is data-driven and holistic, and CEEZER provides the perfect tool for these buyers. Benjamin Schulz and Maximilian Zeller add that they are excited to partner with CEEZER in order to make CDR more approachable and accessible for their corporate clients.
