UK-insurtech Kita, focused on reducing the risks associated with carbon purchases, has secured a £4mn funding round.
The funding round was led by Octopus Ventures, alongside Chaucer Group, Hartree Partners, and existing investors Insurtech Gateway, Carbon13, and Climate VC.
The new funding will go towards the launch of the company’s first product, the Carbon Purchase Protection Cover, which insures the purchase of carbon removal credits.
By increasing the trust and protection in carbon removal purchases, it can encourage companies to deploy more capital towards decarbonisation.
Founded in 2021, Kita believes that insurtech is a key way to achieve carbon emission removal goals that are essential to combating climate change.
Insurance can act as a fundamental enabler – by removing risk and increasing trust in the market, insurance will help drive capital to help quality carbon removal projects scale.
Kita’s insurance solutions use sophisticated data modelling techniques to remove carbon delivery risk from buyers and sellers in the voluntary carbon market, thus enabling development and accelerating climate impact.
Kita is fighting climate change, and speed is of the essence. Insurtech Gateway’s reputation as the fastest place to build and launch an insurtech was therefore the perfect fit. Kita’s passion is enabling carbon removal solutions to scale, and we are thrilled to be working with Insurtech Gateway to do it at the rate the climate crisis requires.
Natalia Dorfman, Co-Founder and CEO at Kita
Carbon removal plays a critical role in the fight against climate change and there is a pressing need to scale these technologies at an unprecedented size and pace.
Insurance is essential to enable this rate of growth by de-risking investments into carbon removal solutions and building in incentives that increase the supply of high-quality carbon credits in the market.
To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, we must remove gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually for the remainder of the 21st century. This is a mammoth task, and it requires de-risking and access to capital for carbon removal solutions
Natalia Dorfman, co-founder and CEO of Kita
Carbon removal solutions generate revenue from forward sale of carbon units. Inconsistent standards and opaque transactions in the voluntary carbon markets lead to significant risk: will carbon purchased be delivered as promised?
Kita’s insurance guarantees quality and delivery of carbon units, increasing access to capital for high-integrity carbon removal projects.
The team was brought together by Carbon13, the venture builder for the climate emergency.
FOUNDERS:
Natalia Dorfman (CEO) – Over 15 years business development and strategy experience, including over 8 years at Clyde & Co LLP, where she initially ran the UK Insurance business development team and later was Global Head of New Business, leading the firm’s Climate Risk strategy. Little known fact: at University Natalia majored in environmental science and led backpacking and rock-climbing trips
Dr. Paul Young (CTO) – Received a PhD in Astrophysics before a 24+ year career in data-science driven hedge-funds, including founding two hedge fund-focused start-ups (the 2nd of which, Sybenetix, was acquired by Nasdaq in 2017). Little known fact: one of Paul’s earliest jobs was as an insurance loss adjuster.
Tom Merriman (CPO) – Over 15 years experience in FinTech product management, leading product teams at Bloomberg and Nasdaq. Little known fact: Tom has more degrees than you can shake a stick at, including climate change science. He also once founded a beer export company from California to the UK.
by Peter Sonner
