The FinTech Times,
As interest in sustainable investing continues to grow apace, Clim8 Invest (Clim8), a digital investment platform to help consumers invest exclusively in companies focused on tackling the climate crisis, has raised a further £2.4 million in funding.
Investment has come from a range of venture funds, cleantech and technology experts and more than 1900 retail investors via the Crowdcube platform. Investors in this round include 7percent Ventures, Basil Capital, Evergreen Fund, EcoSummit Ventures and several ex-partners of McKinsey.
This total exceeds its initial target by 600% and combined with a previous round of £2 million means that the company has now raised £4.4 million to help fulfil its mission to empower people to make a positive impact on the environment while delivering healthy financial gains for their personal futures. The Clim8 portfolio has made an excellent start and if it had been running for the last twelve months, it would have achieved a return of 16%.
“We are currently seeing a significant interest in sustainable assets. There is a positive dynamic for those companies that have green products and are well run, with the right governance,” said Duncan Grierson, the CEO of Clim8. “Awareness of the threat of climate change is realigning investment profiles towards sustainability and we are proud to be a part of that movement.”
The Clim8 investment platform, which has began its rollout to the 12,000 strong waitlist, is a “pureplay” investment platform focused only on sustainable businesses that have green products and services. The Clim8’s investment team are specialists in sustainability and don’t merely screen out fossil fuels, like many “ESG” funds, but instead proactively pursue companies that are “planet positive”.
A recent HSBC report showed that companies with a sustainability focus have outperformed other stocks in 2020. And a report by Morgan Stanley revealed that 88% of investors believe that it is possible to balance financial gains with a focus on social and environmental impact.
Meanwhile, PPS, formerly PrePay Solutions and subsidiary of Edenred, earlier this week announced its partnership with the Austrian-based card manufacturer, exceet Card Group.
The news comes as PPS ups its environmentally friendly and sustainability programmes, in line with demand from customers that are interested in providing end-users with green, plastic-free cards made out of alternative materials such as wood of r-PETG. The partnership enables PPS to provide its customers with an access to a wider range of card manufacturers within both the UK and European market.
Approximately six billion payment cards are produced each year – most of them made from non-biodegradable plastics such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and are replaced every 3-4 years, which collectively contributes around 5.7m tons of excess plastic in landfill around the world. The relationship between PPS and exceet demonstrates a commitment from both parties to deliver pioneering card-based solutions with wellbeing for the environment at the forefront of both companies’ business operations.
There are currently several PPS programmes in production with exceet which will offer customers’ end-users 100% sustainable wooden cards which are EMV-compliant and dual interface-capable, so that both contact and contactless payments are possible. As part of exceet’s commitment to sustainability it also uses 100% renewable energies (hydropower and photovoltaic) during the card production.
Ray Brash, CEO of PPS, commented on the partnership: “As the driver behind leading fintech solutions, we are delighted to announce our integration with exceet as part of our commitment to offer responsible programmes to our customers. We recognise the impact our industry can have on the environment, and it is our obligation to provide cards that can play a part in the global progress towards sustainability. There’s a lot of important activity in the pipeline of this partnership and together, we look forward to providing the latest innovations in alternative green card solutions.”
Sueleyman Tasdemir, CEO of exceet added: “With more than 350 million exceet cards produced per year, we are the leading service provider for smart cards in the banking, loyalty or transport sector. As the preferred partner for many fintech companies and established banking brands, we are delighted to partner with PPS who is at the forefront of innovation within the fintech space. With PPS’ wide ranging customers, we are proud that a huge portion the payment industry will benefit from our sustainable product offerings.
