Kibo Ventures, based in Madrid (Spain) is a VC Fund focused on early-stage investments in digital companies.  Kibo Ventures manages $320 million from a mix of institutional and private investors, including IEF, Telefonica, the Spanish Government (through CDTI), Mutua Madrileña (Spain's largest insurance company) and Axis (ICO's 25 year-old private equity arm). Specifically, Kibo likes to invest in companies which combine exceptional and committed teams, aiming to digitalize a product or service in a big-enough market with international potential.  Kibo is managed by an experienced team of professionals with a solid track record, who are actively involved in the companies in which they invest.  Kibo follows a stage-investment approach and financially supports portfolio companies as they grow, whilst promoting co-investment from valuable investors.

Kibo Ventures

Seaya is a leading European Venture Capital platform that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building global technology companies. Seaya raised its first funding in 2013 and currently manages over €600 million across five early-stage venture funds. Seaya accelerates the growth of startups by leveraging the founder’s strategic vision, providing them with Seaya’s global platform, its extensive network of founders, investors and multinational corporations, as well as all its experience in the global expansion of companies such as Glovo, Cabify, Wallbox (NYSE:WBX), Spotahome, Clarity AI, Clicars, Alma and RatedPower. Learn more at seaya.vc.

Seaya

Founders Fund is a venture capital firm that invests at every stage in companies building revolutionary technologies. It has been investors, founders, and early employees of prominent technology companies. It has historically invested in a wide variety of sectors, including aerospace, artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, health, and consumer Internet.

Founders Fund

14W is venture capital firm investing in companies that make the future more accessible, efficient, and connected. As investors, we are curious, thoughtful, and driven by conviction. With a global team across New York, London, and Madrid, we primarily invest in healthcare, software, and marketplaces, building partnerships with exceptional founders disrupting and creating categories across North America and Europe.

IMPACT is the accelerator made by world renowned accelerators, global brands and VCs. Top ten worldwide. Offering equity-free funding, top-tier acceleration, expert mentors, and more. Founded in 2014, IMPACT has accelerated more than 100 startups and awarded more than €7 million equity free. Now seeking startups for the MERLIN PropTech Challenge. Learn more and apply at www.MERLINproptechChallenge.com. Other programs include IMPACT Growth, IMPACT Connected Car and IMPACT RobotUnion.

IMPACT Accelerator

Clarity AI

Clarity AI is a sustainability technology platform that uses machine learning and big data to deliver environmental and social insights to investors and organizations. As of December 2021, Clarity AI’s platform analyzes more than 30,000 companies, 135,000 funds, 198 countries and 187 local governments, and delivers data and analytics for investing, corporate research and reporting. Clarity AI has offices in the US and Europe. Clarity AI’s client network manages trillions in assets under management.

Clarity AI is a sustainability technology platform that leverages machine learning and Big Data to provide environmental and social insights to investors, organizations, and consumers. The company's core offering is a comprehensive software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution and API that enables clients to manage and optimize the sustainability and impact aspects of their investment portfolios.

How Clarity AI uses AI & machine learning on AWS to quantify sustainability

Klarna unveils conscious badges powered by Clarity AI, the world's first assessment of electronics brands' environmental achievements

Clarity AI and AWS Advance Sustainable Investing at Scale

Powered Sustainability Platform

Clarity AI: 44% of Professional Investors Are Now Using Sustainability Analytic Capabilities or Data from Multiple Service Providers

Clarity AI: Whitewashing the Green Out of Brands Working Towards Transparency in Sustainability Won’t Save the Planet

Clarity AI Technology Empowers Consumers to Shop Consciously with Klarna

Institut Louis Bachelier

Embedding environmental, social, and corporate governance factors into investments

Sustainable Finance

Clarity AI Joins Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), Strengthening Its Role in Shaping Sustainable Investment Through Data and Expertise

Amazon Web Services

The partnership enables Clarity AI to deliver sustainability analysis tools, leveraging AWS services such as Amazon SageMaker, SageMaker Studio, and Amazon EC2 GPU instances to train large language models and process vast amounts of unstructured data from various sources, including sustainability reports, financial reports, earnings calls, and research documents.

Empowering Tomorrow's Innovations with Generative AI Infrastructure

Generative AI Infrastructure

Platforms that assist with fine-tuning pre-trained GenAI models or custom models tailored to specific use cases. Includes services that train models from scratch or use existing models

Clarity AI is a sustainability technology platform that leverages machine learning and Big Data to provide environmental and social insights to investors, organizations, and consumers. The company's core offering is a comprehensive software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution and API that enables clients to manage and optimize the sustainability and impact aspects of their investment portfolios.
Clarity AI's platform analyzes over 70,000 companies, 420,000 funds, 198 countries, and 400 local governments, representing the most extensive coverage in the market. The platform combines structured and unstructured data, applying reliability algorithms and estimation models to deliver objective and scalable sustainability ratings, such as ESG Risk, Climate Impact, and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Clarity AI's technology enables seamless sustainability analysis and reporting for investment portfolios, including regulatory compliance solutions for frameworks like the EU Taxonomy and Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Clients can also customize scoring methodologies and reporting based on their preferences.
Through partnerships with companies like Klarna, Clarity AI's sustainability insights reach over 150 million consumers across more than 400,000 merchants, empowering conscious purchasing decisions. The platform integrates with ecommerce environments to display sustainability badges for brands, recognizing their environmental performance.
Clarity AI leverages AWS services like Amazon SageMaker, Amazon SageMaker Studio, and Amazon EC2 GPU instances to train large language models and natural language processing models. These models process unstructured data from sources like sustainability reports, financial reports, and news articles.

Starling Bank is a digital, mobile-only bank based in the UK, offering personal and business accounts. Founded in 2014 by former Allied Irish Banks COO Anne Boden, Starling received its banking license from regulators in July 2016. The bank operates without any physical branches and provides services entirely through its mobile app.
Starling offers various personal account options, including current accounts, joint accounts, euro accounts, and teen accounts. Its multi-currency feature allows customers to hold, send, and receive euros for free, with a 0.4% conversion fee for foreign transactions. The app provides real-time spending insights, categorized expenses, budgeting tools, and the ability to set aside money in "Virtual Change Jars." Customers can also apply for overdrafts and loans through the app.
For businesses, Starling offers digital business accounts with powerful money management tools, invoicing, tax assessment, and integration with accounting software. Businesses can also hold and transact in euros and US dollars through dedicated currency accounts.
Starling facilitates international money transfers to 36 countries in 20 currencies, with competitive exchange rates and fees. Customers can opt for direct SWIFT bank-to-bank transfers for a flat fee of GBP 5.50.
In May 2023, Starling Bank reported a record pre-tax profit of GBP 195 million, a sixfold increase from the previous year. Anne Boden stepped down as CEO but remains a non-executive director and shareholder.

Starling Bank

Aspiration is a fintech company that offers a suite of green financial services products aimed at empowering individuals and businesses to combat climate change through their everyday spending and saving activities. The company provides sustainable checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and investment accounts that are fossil fuel-free and enable customers to track their personal sustainability scores.
Aspiration's key product is the Aspiration Spend & Save account, which offers a competitive 3.00% annual percentage yield (APY) on balances up to USD 10,000 as of October 2022. This cash management account comes with a debit card, mobile check deposit, bill pay, and up to USD 2 million in FDIC insurance coverage. Aspiration also has the Redwood Fund and Redwood IRA, investment products focused on sustainable companies committed to ethnic diversity, gender diversity, ethical practices, and addressing climate change.
In April 2024, Aspiration's consumer financial services brand was spun off as a separate company called Mission Financial Partners, led by CEO Tim Newell. This move allowed Aspiration to concentrate on serving businesses through its carbon credit offerings while Mission Financial Partners focused on expanding its suite of climate-friendly consumer products like banking, credit, lending, investment, and insurance solutions. A key aspect of Aspiration's approach is planting trees, with the company claiming to have supported the planting of over 100 million trees as of April 2024.

Aspiration

Classy is a cloud-based fundraising platform offering a comprehensive suite of tools to help nonprofits create engaging online donation experiences and manage fundraising campaigns effectively. Its key features include customizable donation pages, peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities, crowdfunding campaigns, event ticketing, and integration with popular CRM systems like Salesforce.
Classy's platform provides nonprofits with the ability to design branded, mobile-responsive donation forms and fundraising pages. Organizations can accept one-time and recurring donations, as well as process payments through multiple gateways, including PayPal, Venmo, and credit cards. The platform's peer-to-peer fundraising tools empower supporters to create personal fundraising pages and share them across social media platforms, fostering a sense of community and friendly competition through features like fundraising leaderboards and team fundraising goals.
For events, Classy offers event registration, ticketing, and attendee management functionalities, streamlining the process of organizing and promoting fundraising events. The platform also supports crowdfunding campaigns, enabling nonprofits to tap into this popular form of online giving.
Classy's pricing model consists of an annual subscription fee and transaction fees for each donation processed through the platform. As of May 2024, the transaction fees stand at 2.4% + USD 0.30 for credit cards and 2.5% + USD 0.30 for PayPal/Venmo.
Key customers and partnerships
Classy has been widely adopted by nonprofits of various sizes and causes, facilitating the raising of tens of thousands of dollars for their missions. The platform has garnered praise for its user-friendly interface, robust features, and seamless integration capabilities with popular tools like Salesforce and Facebook.
Classy's partnership with Facebook has been particularly noteworthy, enabling nonprofits to leverage the social media platform's reach for peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. This integration has streamlined the process for volunteers and supporters to raise funds on behalf of the organizations they support.

Classy

Tandem Bank is a digital challenger bank based in the UK, focused on providing environmentally-friendly financial products and services. The bank aims to help customers reduce their carbon footprint while offering competitive savings accounts, mortgages, personal loans, and home improvement financing options.
Tandem utilizes open banking technology to securely connect with customers' existing bank accounts, allowing seamless transfers into their Tandem savings accounts. The bank offers instant access savings accounts with variable interest rates up to 4.90% AER as of April 2024, as well as fixed-term savings accounts ranging from one to three years with interest rates up to 5.07% AER.
In addition to savings products, Tandem provides residential and buy-to-let mortgages, with discounts for energy-efficient properties based on their EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) ratings. The bank also offers personal loans, home loans for expenses like renovations or debt consolidation, and motor finance for used vehicles through approved dealerships.
Tandem's "Green Lending" initiatives allocate a portion of customer deposits toward financing eco-friendly home improvements such as solar panel installations and energy-efficient window replacements. In 2023, the bank facilitated over GBP 523 million in green home improvement lending, contributing to the avoidance of 74,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
In January 2022, Tandem acquired the consumer lender Oplo, further expanding its product offerings and solidifying its position as a "fairer, greener digital bank" in the UK market. The bank discontinued its automatic savings features in January 2021 to concentrate on developing its green banking strategy.

Tandem

Cushon is a London-based fintech company founded in 2014 that offers workplace savings and investment products, including ISAs, investment accounts, and pensions. Its key offerings include a workplace ISA, master trust pension, junior and lifetime ISAs, and a general investment account. Cushon's products are designed to be simple and user-friendly, with a mobile app that provides a personalized experience and helps engage savers with their financial goals.
Cushon's unique selling point is the "Net Zero Now" pension, launched in January 2021, which is claimed to be the world's first net zero pension. This pension aims to minimize carbon emissions from investments as much as possible and offsets any remaining emissions through carbon offsetting projects. As of April 2022, Cushon had approximately GBP 1.7 billion in assets under management, making it the fifth largest master trust pension provider in the UK. By February 2023, its assets under management had grown to GBP 1.85 billion.
In February 2023, NatWest Group acquired an 85% stake in Cushon for GBP 144 million, with the remaining equity retained by Cushon management. This acquisition allowed NatWest to offer Cushon's workplace savings and pension products to its commercial mid-market customers, enhancing its financial wellbeing services.

Cushon

Digital banks that deploy customer deposits to sustainable uses such as renewable energy projects and social housing.

Offers a platform for individuals and businesses to invest in sustainability-related companies, projects, and investment portfolios.

Solutions that allow investors to obtain sustainability-related information on their portfolios such as real-world impact (water savings, CO2 savings, etc.) and ESG-related compliance.

Companies that provide the digital infrastructure for financial institutions to offer their own sustainable finance products.

AI/ML is used to support robo advisory functions and allocate funds into ESG-based investments

Startups in this hub focus on ESG-related financial services such as sustainable investing

Clarity AI

Sources

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless