Jul 10, 2023

GreenPlaces – an all-in-one sustainability platform – recently announced $13 million in Series A led by Redpoint Ventures along with Felicis, Tishman Speyer Ventures, and Bull City Venture Partners. And this investment fuels GreenPlaces on its mission to bring sustainability to the mass market where over 83% of global emissions (or an estimated 39 billion tons of CO2e) live. Business leaders nowadays are under an enormous amount of pressure, facing declining profitability, rapidly evolving regulation, and an ever-more environmentally conscious consumer and workforce. And despite rising requirements and expectations, most sustainability teams and budgets are small and increasingly squeezed as businesses are forced to make cuts and focus on the bottom line. GreenPlaces also understands that businesses desperately need a practical, straightforward sustainability solution, and in order for it to work for the mass market, it has to be good for business and the planet. Industry giants such as Meta, Microsoft, and AT&T today practice a “good for business, good for planet” approach to sustainability–investing heavily in experts and custom-built tools to tackle their carbon footprint, and benefit their bottom line. And GreenPlaces is helping the mass market adopt this approach to move beyond viewing sustainability as a cost center, reframing it as a smarter way to do business–translating sustainability into ROI. GreenPlaces makes sustainability possible for all businesses – thus connecting the dots between business benefits and climate impact. Known as being practical and easy to implement, the all-in-one solution is purpose-built for business leaders who need to adopt sustainability practices, but lack the resources and expertise of corporate giants. The company’s platform marries customers’ operational data with sustainability benchmarks–through integrations with thousands of existing business tools (such as utilities, HR, and accounting platforms) – to create visibility into their carbon footprint, as well as actionable insights to reduce emissions and achieve cost savings. And the platform also includes templates and tools such as an ESG policy library and a branded sustainability website, making it easy for customers to reach compliance and share their stories. GreenPlaces supports fast-growing businesses across a range of industries–from restaurants and hotels to tech companies and more traditional businesses such as law firms and service providers. And leading brands including bartaco, Graduate Hotels, Zuora, Salesloft, and Network Wireless Solutions (NWS) choose GreenPlaces as their trusted sustainability partner. KEY QUOTES: “I empathize with business leaders. On one side you’re facing declining profitability, and on the other you’re staring down ESG requirements and climate regulation. Not to mention, topline pressure as customers shift their spend to reflect values. We built GreenPlaces to tie business and sustainability objectives together, making it easy for businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and increase their bottom line.” “We realized that businesses like Amazon, Starbucks, and Meta were achieving sustainability goals while also saving millions in operational efficiencies. Shouldn’t every business have access to these sustainable strategies?” — Alex Lassiter, Founder & CEO of GreenPlaces “In our minds, if you want to work with large corporations in any sort of commercial capacity moving forward, you are going to need to both track and report on your emissions footprint and sustainability practices. We believe that similar to what we’ve seen with other compliance trends like GDPR and SOC II, the vast majority of the market needs a simple, prescriptive, set-it-and-forget-it solution for sustainability – and that’s what GreenPlaces offers. Alex and the GreenPlaces team have shown unparalleled customer empathy, which we believe to be a huge competitive advantage in meeting the needs of a customer set who has historically been misunderstood and ignored by Silicon Valley.” — Meera Clark, Principal at Redpoint Ventures “We are so excited that companies of all sizes are turning to GreenPlaces to drive sustainability efforts and improve their bottom line. Environmental standards are fast becoming a norm, and GreenPlaces is the perfect integrated platform to reduce the complexity for organizations. Their customized reporting and tailored carbon reduction playbooks are features that every modern company needs. We’re thrilled to support Alex and the team in their efforts to create a world where all businesses prioritize sustainability with GreenPlaces.” — Viviana Faga, General Partner at Felicis Trending on Pulse 2.0