Benioff-Backed NCX Raises $50M for Global Expansion

NCX, the carbon marketplace backed by billionaire Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, raised $50 million in a Series B to help fund international expansion.

Why it matters: The funding will fuel NCX’s planned drive outside the U.S., likely first with planned pilots in Mexico and Canada, a spokesperson tells Axios.

• NCX connects buyers of carbon offsets with landowners who grow trees on their property. The company then uses satellites to "measure every acre every year," co-founder Max Nova says.
• Since its seed round in Thanksgiving 2020, the company has grown to 50 employees from 10 employees and signed corporate buyers such as Microsoft, Cargill, and Rubicon.

The details: The funding round was led by Energize Ventures. It also included J.P. Morgan, Intercontinental Exchange, Dalus Capital, Clearvision Ventures, as well as further funding from existing investors Scribble Ventures and Benioff's TIME Ventures.

What they’re saying: "Ultimately we got to get to where all the trees are at," Nova tells Axios. "The U.S. has over 600 million acres of forest, but there are billions of acres of forest out there."

Of note: NCX hasn't made public its valuation, and declined to speculate on the timing of its push into other countries.

• "We're trying to be very thoughtful about" entering foreign markets, Nova said. Between weeks, months, and years, the expansion, will occur "definitely sooner than years."