Carbon technology platform, Fairatmos, raises US$4.5 million in seed round
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6 December 2022, South Jakarta – Fairatmos, an Indonesia-based carbon technology platform, has raised US$4.5 million in its seed round, led by Go-Ventures and Kreasi Terbarukan TBS, the investment arm of one of Indonesia’s leading integrated energy companies, Toba Bara Sejahtera, with participation from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India and prominent angel investors. Fairatmos plans to use the new funds to: 1) Strengthen its platform, providing new digital innovations in the carbon market; 2) Outreach to more communities and project developers; and 3) Grow the team across multiple functions, including remote sensing analytics experts, as well as product and engineering roles.
Democratising access to carbon markets
“Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, 196 countries endorsed the global goal of maintaining the rise of global temperature by 1.5oC, which means cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 50% by 2030[1]. 702 companies globally have pledged their net zero target[2], which is a vast growth in the previous year, including in Indonesia. One way for companies to meet their targets is to counterbalance their emission via carbon credits,” explained Natalia Rialucky, Founder and CEO of Fairatmos. “Developing high quality, scalable carbon sequestration projects is not an easy task. Despite the abundant potential for Indonesia to become the carbon sink of the world, historically there have been few projects in Indonesia, as there are many technical barriers and upfront costs that make it challenging for communities and organisations to participate.”
Fairatmos aims to democratise access to carbon markets. At its core, the Company’s mission is to improve the livelihoods of smallholder communities through additional income from involvement in carbon projects and reduced degradation of their surrounding ecosystem. Fairatmos is building an innovative solution that helps communities, asset owners and project developers to design and verify carbon projects, moreover provides technical guidance and a free digital pre-feasibility study. In the future, Fairatmos plans to connect developers with companies and individuals who seek to counterbalance their carbon emissions as part of their net-zero goals.
Fairatmos – mapping Indonesia’s carbon sequestration potential
In less than one year of operations, Fairatmos has gained strong traction and worked with over 40 project developers across several carbon sequestration projects in mangroves, forests and agriculture.
“With over 126 million hectares of forest cover, Indonesia is globally known as the ‘world’s lungs’. There is huge carbon market[3] potential in Indonesia, with US$565 billion worth of carbon economic value,” said Aditya Kamath, Partner at Go-Ventures.
Fairatmos has been in close partnership with the Indonesian government to follow regulatory guidance in developing carbon projects. The Company was selected as the official partner for carbon neutral initiative at the recent B20 Summit in November 2022, the official G20 dialogue forum of the global business community.
A founding team with experience in climate and sustainability
Fairatmos is led by a strong founding team, with exceptional blue-chip experience and proven track record in climate and sustainability. Founder and CEO, Natalia Rialucky, has over 10 years of experience leading sustainability initiatives for various agriculture and climate projects. Previously, she was Chief Strategy and Social Impact Officer at TaniHub and Head of Social Impact at the Boston Consulting Group. The team recently onboarded Karida Niode as Head of Climate Solutions, who previously was a Consultant at a New York-based ESG consulting firm advising Fortune 500 and other MNCs for ESG management, Aruna Pradipta, as VP of Growth and Partnerships, who was previously at Systemiq leading multiple projects in forest and community management, and Fredric Tanuwijoyo, as VP of Strategy and Project Development, previously a consultant at McKinsey. Fairatmos is also supported by Desy Nurmalasari, previously a Product Manager at OVO and Traveloka, and Fajar Firdaus as Head of Engineering who previously co-founded Sirclo and led engineering for HappyFresh and Airy Rooms.
"Moving forward, we aim to continue breaking barriers and developing technological innovations for our platform that will allow greater access to capital and technical expertise for carbon sequestration projects,” concluded Natalia Rialucky.
Footnotes
[1] Climate Analytics - https://climateanalytics.org/briefings/15c/
[2] https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/report-casts-doubt-net-zero-emissions-pledges-by-big-global-companies-2022-06-12/
[3] Carbon markets are trading systems in which carbon credits are bought and sold. One tradable carbon credit equals one tonne of CO2 or equivalent amount of a greenhouse gas reduced, sequestered or avoided. https://www.idxchannel.com/economics/potensi-perdagangan-karbon-indonesia-capai-rp8000-triliun-ini-rinciannya#:\~:text=Potensi Perdagangan Karbon Indonesia Capai Rp8.000 Triliun%2C Ini Rinciannya,-ECONOMICS&text=Indonesia memiliki potensi pendapatan sebesar,000 triliun dari perdagangan karbon. ; http://ppid.menlhk.go.id/berita/siaran-pers/5898/empat-pesan-menteri-lhk-pada-peringatan-hari-hutan-internasional#:\~:text=Hutan tropis Indonesia adalah yang,juta Hektare (Ha) hutan
Relevant reads:
Carbon Markets - Nascent and Faced with Growing Pains, Why Should VCs Care? (Part 1)
Carbon Markets - Nascent and Faced with Growing Pains, Why Should VCs Care? (Part 2)
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