Announcing Our Investment in veritree
We are thrilled to announce our investment in veritree, a company that uses software to transform the supply chain for nature-based climate solutions. The investment comes as part of a Series A financing that we led, with participation from Diagram Climate, Kibo Invest, Garage, and Northside. As part of the investment, our partner Isaac Souweine will join veritree’s board.
Introducing veritree
veritree was born out of tentree, a sustainable apparel brand that pledged to plant 10 trees with every purchase. As the company grew, tentree was exposed firsthand to the lack of reliable, transparent systems to track reforestation. veritree began as an internal project to reduce brand risk and improve tree planting operations. In 2020, the company was spun out as a standalone entity. Today, veritree supports more than three hundred companies to invest in reforestation that is tracked, verified, and impactful.
Addressing a Global Challenge
Corporate reforestation has emerged as a fast-growing sector within climate investment. Reforestation appeals to consumers intuitively, meaning that companies can align climate action with product and marketing efforts. On the supply side, tree planting generates positive impacts on biodiversity and livelihoods, driving significant support from governments and NGOs. As it has grown, however, the industry has faced hurdles. Many tree-planting campaigns fail to deliver results due to limited oversight and inadequate data. Lack of transparency leads to allegations of greenwashing and overall loss of trust.
veritree addresses these challenges head-on. Their software-enabled supply chain is the most comprehensive solution available for managing and verifying tree-planting projects. Augmented by geospatial imaging, sensors, and AI, veritree’s approach ensures that every tree planted is accounted for and contributes to measurable environmental and social outcomes. Building off its data set, veritree provides corporate partners with detailed reporting and microsites, enabling them to showcase their efforts to stakeholders.
Why We Invested
At Pender Ventures, our investment decisions always begin with the team. veritree’s founders – Derrick Emsley, Stephen Emsley and David Luba – built tentree into one of the leading forces in sustainable commerce. They are the epitome of mission-driven, with a long track record of excellence and complementary partnership. The company also has a strong executive team and employee group, united by a culture of execution and impact.
veritree’s strategic positioning was the other major factor that drove our investment. Nature-based restoration is a nascent market. We believe veritree’s combination of vertical software, internal operations and deep partnerships can shape the supply side of the industry, creating a baseline for accuracy and coverage that will be hard to replicate. Looking further out, we believe their bottom-up approach is the most viable path to bring nature-based products into the regulated carbon markets. As veritree expands the scope of its software-enabled supply chain, we see multiple opportunities to scale their demand side activities.
Looking Ahead
We are incredibly excited about the future of veritree and are committed to supporting them as they scale. We look forward to working with the founders and team to advance their mission of planting 1 billion trees over the next decade. If you see an angle for collaboration, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Images courtesy of veritree.
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