Climate tech software startup Cecil raises $2.2 million

Land restoration and carbon capture startup Cecil has raised $2.2 million in pre-seed capital.

The round was led by agritech-focused VC Tenacious Ventures with participation from Macdoch Ventures and Global Founders Capital.

As part of the investment Tenacious general partner Sarah Nolet will join the startup’s board.

Cecil simplifies the process of managing and investing in natural assets in a sector known as nature-based solution (NBS). The startup plans to use the funds to help more teams restore nature faster.

Co-founder Alex Logan said Cecil’s software platform will accelerate the scale of effective global carbon and natural capital markets that incentivise decarbonisation and ecosystem conservation.

“By helping project participants work together through a shared view of activities and outcomes, we are bringing additional transparency to NBS projects,” he said.

“Our goal is to support global teams working to restore billions of hectares of nature with a platform that standardises these processes, accelerating the development of global carbon and natural capital markets in the process.”

Cecil allows users to create methodology workflows, access real-time monitoring insights, and portfolio performance analytics, integrating data normally locked away in spreadsheets, remote sensing tools and physical documents into a single workspace.

The platform also enables better collaboration between supporting stakeholders. Cecil users can invite investors to fund projects, as well as allowing auditors to verify outcomes or delivery partners to manage activities on the ground

Logan and and his co-founder Rory Oxeham launched Cecil in June 2021. Already they have more than 1,500 NBS projects on the platform, spanning more than one million hectares of land in Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Nolet from Tenacious said there is growing recognition that nature-based solutions have a key role to play in addressing climate challenges.

“But right now, the process for finding, registering, and managing these projects is clunky, inefficient, and complex,” she said.

“Cecil’s product-led growth approach and ambitious vision mean they are uniquely placed in this growing market, and we could not be more pleased to be partnering with them.”

Alasdair MacLeod is executive chairman of the Macdoch Group, the parent company of Macdoch Ventures and Wilmot Cattle Co.

The business signed Australia’s largest ever soil carbon deal with Microsoft last year. MacLeod said it’s not just tech giants looking to buy carbon credits.

“The investment community are increasingly understanding the need to invest in natural capital,” he said.

“These offset deals and natural capital investments will require new mechanisms for measurement, recording and validation and crucially, new technology to enable those mechanisms. Technology providers such as Cecil will play an important role in the emerging market for natural capital investments and offset marketplaces.”