Iconic Air, a West Virginia startup building a SaaS platform to track emissions and optimize carbon costs for energy-intensive companies, has closed on $5 million in a funding round led by San Francisco-based XYZ Venture Capital.
Other investors who participated in the seed round were Garuda Ventures, the GTM fund and investors from West Virginia’s Country Roads Angel Network, which is administered by the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority and WV Hive.
“Manually tracking carbon emissions on a spreadsheet is no longer best practice, nor is it scalable, and outsourcing carbon reporting can become an increasingly costly expenditure,” said Iconic Air cofounder and CEO Kyle Gillis.
Clear Opportunity
In 2020, Gillis partnered with West Virginia University classmate James Carnes, a former Deloitte executive and NASA research fellow, to start Iconic Air. He was 27 years old and Carnes was 23 when the two were featured in last year’s Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.
“The new financial metric for energy-intensive industries is carbon — Kyle and James saw this opportunity clearly,” said Chauncey Hamilton, a partner at XYZ. “They understand these complex issues first-hand, and they’ve assembled the right team to go after this massive opportunity.”
Emissions Dashboard
Together with the funding announcement, Iconic Air unveiled its Emissions Intelligence platform, which has completed successful beta programs with several large, publicly traded companies. Iconic Air sets out three major tasks for the platform, built incorporating machine learning and artificial intelligence: automate, benchmark and manage emissions in the quest toward Net Zero.
“We are giving energy-intensive industries access to modern, intelligent tools that not only help them comply with new regulations and gain better access to funding, but also provide the types of insights that allow companies to plan for the future and successfully lower their carbon footprint – all while making the tracking process infinitely more efficient,” said Gillis.
Targeting Major Polluters
Commercial Real Estate
MacKenzie Companies
Advertising / Media / Communications / Public Relations
Nevins & Associates
Financial Services / Investment Firms
Chesapeake Corporate Advisors
Commercial Real Estate
Monday Properties
Venture Capital
Blue Delta Capital Partners
Internet / Technology
Foxtrot Media
Iconic Air has initially targeted five major industries — including oil and gas, utilities, manufacturing and metals — that account for over 56% of the world’s emissions. Such companies can use the Emissions Intelligence platform to monitor emissions, costs of carbon offsets and related metrics. The platform also facilitates internal engagement with financial, HR and operational data ecosystems.
The company conducted four pilot projects in the Appalachian, Permian and Denver basins in late 2020 and won a 15-month United States Air Force contract to adapt the technology for Department of Defense applications. It recently struck a partnership with Diversified Energy, an independent energy company.
Iconic Air has said that it is focusing on a monthly recurring revenue model for early services, and plans to transition to an annual model when picking up major oil and gas customers.
