Carbon software start up poised to debut trading platform

Fresh from securing $1m in additional funding, San Francisco software start up CarbonFlow has announced that it is just a month away from releasing the first version of its software platform, designed to make it easier and more cost effective for firms to participate in the booming carbon offset market.

The latest investment was provided by venture capitalist @Ventures, and follows a $2.9m (£1.9m) round earlier this year from Clean Pacific Ventures, OVP Venture Partners and Meridian Energy.

The company said it would use the additional funds to accelerate the commercialisation of its CarbonFlow Suite of products, which it is aiming to release before the end of the year.

The software has been designed to streamline the administrative processes governing the issuance and verification of carbon credits associated with emission reduction projects, while providing the growing numbers of firms buying and trading such credits with greater visibility over where they originated.

The solution has been developed in partnership with global auditing firm Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the largest independent verifier of carbon emission reduction projects in the world, and is expected to help lower the administrative costs associated with carbon trading and help alleviate concerns among business customers over the provenance and validity of carbon credits.

Neal Dikeman, co-founder of CarbonFlow, said the company was now primed to deliver its first wave of products, and was expected to see strong demand from a burgeoning global carbon market that is clamouring for software platforms similar to those used in the financial markets.

Software for tracking and reporting corporate carbon emissions and managing a global carbon market expected to be worth more than $100bn by the end of the year, has attracted growing interest from developers over the last year with global players such as IBM, SAS and Lawson jostling with a raft of specialist start ups to gain a foothold in the emerging market.