Contrarian Ventures Invests in Norwegian Climate Success Startup
We are very thrilled to welcome another member to our growing portfolio family, CHOOOSE, a Norway-based climate startup that has picked up numerous global awards and closed $4 million in its seed round. The round is among others led by Contrarian Ventures and the Viessmann Group’s VC Vito.One with participation from Wiski Capital and Norwegian angel investors. A number of earlier investors, including Katapult Accelerator, also followed on.
Described as a “Stripe for Climate” the company is applying a layer of climate action by way of CO2-offsets into transactions, products and with as-a-service models towards businesses and individuals. The company gained a lot of buzz early on after winning startup of the year in Norway in 2017, founder of the year 2018, and most notably being the first Northern-European company to be named a top 10 tech startup by Sir Richard Branson and the Extreme Tech Challenge. CHOOOSE also has a substantial community of individuals and corporations utilizing their ‘climate positive’ services.
Rokas Peciulaitis, Managing Partner at Contrarian Ventures notes, “There are no existing solutions for the business and consumer segments to seamlessly and easily offset their carbon footprint. The solution that CHOOOSE have created both increases awareness of the public on climate change, as well as make an impact by enabling everyone to reduce the effect our day to day lives have on the environment. We believe in the potential of such a platform, as the targets set out in the Paris Agreement targets are impossible to be met without the involvement of the public. Contrarian Ventures believes this is the first truly B2C product which has endless integration options and can establish itself as “Stripe for Climate”. We are very happy with such a strong VC co-investor base, including Viessman’s Vito One, Norway’s Wiski Capital and Catapult, and are keen to work further alongside our neighbours in the Scandinavian market”.
“In order to stay relevant, large corporations need to both take a stand on climate and actually put their money where their mouth is. The same goes for start-ups, having a positive impact on the planet actually has a huge value and to us, it is not enough to have this as a side effect — it is the core offering,” CEO Andreas Slettvoll.
“Given the urgency to act on climate, we truly believe making low-barrier solutions that enables everyone to take action is wanted both from consumers and corporations. Over the last 18 months I see a clear shift from people not asking why they should act on climate, but why not.”
The megatrend and public shift have accelerated the company’s growth and led to new developments being developed at a rapid speed.
To be able to scale their impact CHOOOSE has created software that lets anyone with an e-commerce solution utilize CHOOOSE as-a-service at checkout, enabling their customers to carbon balance their consumption.
“We are redefining what climate action can look like. Normally, it’s been about indulgence or very transactional. We believe low-barrier, high-impact solutions into your life and habits is the way to go,” he adds.
To that end, CHOOOSE says it is using the funds to launching cutting edge offering related to actual CO2 removal in addition to reductions via UN-verified green projects soon. The company has a long list of high-profile users, such as Telia, Santander Consumer Bank, Red Bull, the Norwegian national ski jumping and ice hockey teams, pop star Matoma, and thousands of individuals across close to 60 countries.
About CHOOOSE
CHOOOSE is a platform for climate action battling the core problem of climate change — emissions from big polluters. We buy carbon credits, tear them apart and throw them in the trash. The money goes to UN-regulated clean energy projects in developing countries. With a CHOOOSE subscription, you can go climate positive — and offset more than your carbon footprint.
CHOOOSE is the only platform for seamlessly subscribing to clear and positive climate action.
To learn more, visit: https://chooose.today/, or follow the team on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
