Carbon Maps, the first global platform for environmental footprint management in the agri-food industry, announced €4 million pre-seed round, backed by Samaipata and Breega.
The company is building a software-as-a-service platform for the food industry to track the environmental impact of each of the products in their range.
At the helm of this project are three engineers with extensive experience in food, data science, and supply chains: Patrick Asdaghi, serial entrepreneur and founder of FoodChéri and Seazon; Jeremy Weinstein, Ph.D. in Physics; and Estelle Huynh, former COO of Mojix, an expert in SaaS platforms for industrial supply chains.
Unlike other companies that measure carbon emissions in the aggregate, Carbon Maps focuses specifically on the environmental footprint of their products, ingredients, or raw materials.
By collecting and analyzing relevant data throughout the food chain, from agricultural production systems to the consumer, the startup calculates a variety of impact indicators (greenhouse gas emissions, impact on biodiversity, water use, animal welfare) to enable each link in the chain to monitor its environmental strategy.
“Our ambition is to become the environmental accounting platform of reference for all actors in the food chain, allowing them to independently assess the environmental impact of their products and build sustainable progress trajectories,” says Patrick Asdaghi, CEO of Carbon Maps.
A time for reconciliation
Over the last five years, sustainability has become one of the main concerns of consumers. In Spain, agriculture and livestock farming are directly responsible for 14% of greenhouse gas emissions and from the ones in the processing and distribution stages of the agri-food sector.
A report by IBM reports that 62% of consumers are willing to change their purchasing habits to reduce their environmental impact and choose sustainable brands. For this reason, agri-food companies now face increasing pressure from citizens, NGOs, and regulations.
In response, the Carbon Maps platform makes it possible to identify the environmental optimization levers for each product and to design effective, credible transition plans adapted to each actor and each territory.
By working hand in hand with all actors in the food sector to help them reduce their environmental footprint, Carbon Maps’ mission is to work to reconcile consumers with their food.
Immediate landing in Spain
Given the structure of the European agri-food sector, expansion in Southern Europe and specifically in Spain is a priority for the company.
Spain is a powerful agri-food exporter and a market where intensive agricultural practices have a very high penetration. These practices have a higher carbon footprint and producers could benefit from the Carbon Maps solution in the face of increasing consumer and regulatory scrutiny.
Spain also has a very dynamic domestic distribution sector. Distributors face the consumer and at the same time have less visibility on their cumulative impact, as they are at the bottom of the chain.
The Carbon Maps solution would give retailers access to accurate, real-time information that will enable them to adopt coherent strategies, both internally and vis-à-vis the customer.
Carbon Maps will begin its Spanish rollout by targeting meat producers and industrialists, a sector where they report the team has extensive experience.
“We are very happy to support Patrick again after the success of FoodChéri as we know his capabilities firsthand. The pan-European ambition of the project, the priority of the Spanish market, and the food and climate vocation of the project are an excellent fit with Samaipata’s thesis and will allow us to bring the maximum value of our platform to the project” says José del Barrio, founding partner of Samaipata and founder of La Nevera Roja, a pioneering food tech project in Spain.