Klimato raises €4.2m to help food industry reduce carbon emissions

Stockholm-based green tech startup Klimato has raised €4.2 million to help the food industry reduce its carbon footprint.

Per Our World in Data, food production accounts for around 26 percent of total emissions annually. annually. The data show both the carbon footprint produced to make the food and the emissions created while delivering the food to the consumers.

As consumers’ eating habits affect the climate, Klimato aims to help consumers make informed choices in their consumption. The startup also aims to push industry players, like restaurants and food services, to take action to reduce their climate impact.

Regarding the recent capital raising, Klimato said it would use the funds to speed up its international expansion. Global Cleantech Capital (GCC) led the latest fundraising, with the participation of existing investors like Almi Invest Greentech.

“This investment will help us strengthen our market position and achieve our mission of reducing the climate impact of food,” CEO Anton Unger said.

“We will expand globally with our existing and new customers while continuing to develop our product to become the worldwide market leader for sustainability services in the food sector.”

Klimato’s product

Established in 2018, Klimato has created a proprietary technology to achieve its goals. The startup’s cloud-based software has four main functionalities — Calculate, Communicate, Report and Offset.

The Calculate function helps Klimato’s clients quantify their recipes’ carbon footprint and check on their nutritional values. Meanwhile, the Communicate function puts carbon print labels on each option on the menu, allowing consumers to decide on their meals based on the additional information.

Klimato’s Report solution summarises customers’ efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, allowing stakeholders to check the progress. Lastly, the Offset function is meant to help customers offset their unavoidable emissions via Gold Standard-certified projects.

The startup claims that its tech managed to cut the average carbon footprint per dish by 23 percent last year. Additionally, 57 percent of its customers’ dishes in 2022 were climate-friendly, meaning that each of them produced only up to 0.5 kilograms of CO2 equivalent.

Klimato’s client base includes hotels like Marriott, chain restaurants like KFC and food producers like Violife, a subsidiary of Unilever.