Baltimore-based Grotech Ventures has led a $19 million Series A funding round for Atlanta, Ga.-based Cloverly, which has built a platform to help organizations manage climate change.
New investors who participated in the round included New York’s Aquiline Technology Growth, Impact Engine, Miami, Fla.-based Mission One Capital, Houston, Texas-based New Climate Ventures and Charlotte, N.C.-based CreativeCo Capital. Existing investors Tech Square Ventures, Panoramic Ventures, Kroll Ventures and Circadian Ventures (all Atlanta, Ga.); SoftBank Opportunity Fund (Miami, Fla.) and SaaS Ventures (Washington, D.C.) also participated.
“Through our due diligence, we spoke to many of Cloverly’s customers. We were struck by the passion they had for Cloverly’s product and team,” said Lawson Devries, general partner at Grotech Ventures. “It became clear that Cloverly has not only established itself as a global leader in a large market but that they were bringing real value to their stakeholders and positively impacting the larger fight against climate change.”
Funding Growth Plans
Cloverly said the funding round would help further development of digital infrastructure for the voluntary carbon markets, including a new supplier platform, helping buyers and suppliers to easily manage the impact of climate change. The Series A will also support tripling Cloverly’s team and launching a second headquarters in London.
“We cannot wait — we need to act now,” said Cloverly CEO Jason Rubottom, who previously helmed Ally Commerce. “The importance of the voluntary carbon market demonstrates an unprecedented demand for solutions that allow both businesses and consumers to actively contribute to critical climate action. Cloverly is uniquely positioned to facilitate that engagement and this funding round represents that.”
‘World-class Platform’
Cloverly addresses climate change-related problems and released an API for organizations to manage carbon credits. Its business prospects are shaped by a growing carbon trading market, tipped to reach $50 billion dollars by 2030 as the world aims to eliminate 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Using Cloverly’s platform, businesses can quickly scale their climate action by directly purchasing quality carbon removals. They can also embed Cloverly’s technology into their own products, services or supply chains. Cloverly’s business partners include American Express, Salesforce and Visa.
“It has been remarkable to watch Cloverly evolve since its seed round,” said Vasant Kamath of Tech Square Ventures, the original lead investor in the company. “Seeing both the product and team rapidly grow into a world-class player in just a few short years is a testament to their continued innovation to meet this critical market need.”
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Founded in 1984, Grotech Ventures has raised over $1.4 billion, and made over 150 portfolio investments and 40-plus exits. It eyes opportunities to invest between $500,000 and $5 million in cybersecurity, fintech, supply chain, logistics and software startups. Its recent portfolio investments include Fount Global, pgEdge, Speedscale, Apkudo, Sunstone Credit and Tellius. Grotech’s recent exits include Perishable Shipping Solutions, of Youngstown, Ohio; Urjanet, of Atlanta, Ga.; and Youreka, of Baltimore.
Industry veteran Lawson DeVries has served as Grotech’s managing general partner since 2020. He has been closely associated with a number of Grotech portfolio companies that have been acquired, among others, by giants such as Cisco and Oracle.
DeVries started his career with equity research at Deutsche Bank, and later managed sales at Buckingham Research Group. He has a BA in English literature from Harvard University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
