NCX – the San Francisco forest carbon marketplace startup, previously known as SilviaTerra, announced a raise of $50 million dollars in a Series B round of financing led by energy and sustainability investor Energize Ventures.
Energize Ventures is a global investment manager that is focused on accelerating digital transformation in energy and sustainable industry. NCX also secured new partnerships with J.P. Morgan, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Dalus Capital, Clearvision Ventures, and secured follow-on funding from existing investors – Scribble Ventures, and Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures.
The substantial funding will be used to support international expansion outside of the US and form new natural capital markets.
“The Natural Capital Exchange has always been about enabling society to value all the benefits forests provide. We started with applying our forest data, AI-driven remote sensing, and rigorous accounting practices to carbon in the United States, but if we are going to make a significant impact on climate goals, it is going to take more than just US forests… We also know that society values forests for reasons beyond carbon and timber, such as wildlife habitat and water yield. NCX is going to apply our data, science, and forestry practices to build markets that create the forests society wants and needs,” said Zack Parisa, Co-founder and CEO.
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NCX works as it incentivizes landowners to grow older and more carbon-rich forests. Via short-term harvest deferrals, landowners and managers get paid to reduce harvest activity. According to the startup, the method produces the needed climate impact today instead of “the impact that may happen someday, maybe”.
It has managed to generate participation from 2,470 landowners with a collective 4.3 million acres across 39 states. That resulted in 1.13 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions being stored from forests across an area bigger than the state of Connecticut. For its carbon measurement, the company uses Microsoft AI.
The $50 million funding in Series B round for NCX carbon marketplace is a testimony of how the industry is looking for working and practical solutions to the climate crisis. Companies are spending money to find the best possible emissions reduction ways to decarbonize their operations or offset their emissions.
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