Exclusive: Sumday raises A$5.3M to expand outside of Australia
Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
Tasmanian carbon accounting startup Sumday has raised a A$5.3 million ($3.4 million) seed round to grow its business, the company tells Axios.
Why it matters: Government policies, combined with corporate net zero goals, are driving companies to use software to manage their greenhouse gas emissions.
Zoom in: Planeteer Capital, the firm founded by Sophie Purdom (the co-founder of CTVC), led the round, which also included Blackbird Ventures, Wedgetail, and Canva Co-Founder Cameron Adams.
- Sumday co-founder Jessica Richmond says her company's software differs from competitors because she and her team have accounting backgrounds and they initially built a product for accountants to tackle carbon management.
- The startup, founded in 2022, now also counts customers like small and medium-sized businesses, large enterprises and investors.
- Sumday plans to use the round for product development and to expand outside of Australia.
Catch up quick: Last month the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted dialed-back climate risk disclosure rules, and last week paused them while defending them in court.
- Despite the weaker rules, the SEC's guidelines add to the number of regulators moving toward mandating emissions accounting.
- The European Union and California are also moving forward with emissions disclosure mandates.
State of play: The ecosystem for carbon accounting software is a crowded space.
- A handful of VC-backed companies are trying to grow swiftly while competing with products from large enterprise software companies.
- Watershed closed a $100 million Series C earlier this year with backing from Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital, giving the startup a post-money valuation of $1.8 billion.
- Pulsora raised a $20 million Series A round late last year led by Galvanize Climate Solutions and the VC arms of Aramco and JetBlue. Optera also announced a $12 million Series A round led by Next Frontier Capital.
The big picture: The software companies will try to differentiate themselves by focusing on specific verticals or adding on AI features.
Bottom line: There's a huge opportunity for carbon accounting software, but the sector is getting crowded.
