Kita, a carbon insurance company based in London, announced on Feb. 22 it has raised £4 Million ($4.84 million) in a seed round led by venture capital fund Octopus Ventures.
The CO2 insurance company will use the funds to develop its team, scale its risk modeling technology, and launch its first product, Carbon Purchase Protection Cover.
The funding will also support Kita in building a portfolio of CO2 insurance products that cover the full spectrum of risks in the CO2 markets.
“To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, we must remove gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually for the remainder of the 21st century,” said Natalia Dorfman, CEO, and Co-Founder, Kita. This requires de-risking and access to capital for CO2 removal solutions, she also said, adding that by removing risk and increasing market trust, insurance will play an important part in driving capital to help quality CO2 removal projects scale.
Relevant: New Startup Kita Is The First Insurer Of Carbon Credits
Kita’s three founders, Dr. Paul Young, Thomas Merriman, and Natalia Dorfman, established the company in 2021 as part of the Carbon13 climate tech venture builder in Cambridge, UK. The company’s Carbon Purchase Protection Cover provides insurance to buyers of forward-purchased CO2 removal credits against CO2 delivery risk.
The goal of the product is to allow for more upfront financing so that CO2 removal solutions can access greater flows of consistent capital and scale at a faster rate.
With support from Insurtech Gateway, Kita received regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), was approved as a Lloyd’s of London coverholder, and onboarded insurance partners such as Chaucer Group.
Read more: Kita And Chaucer To Insure Carbon Sequestration Projects
