Premoney 62: QuitCarbon & WATS

Welcome to week 62! It has been a fascinating experience so far as I get exposed to more of the climate tech world. In some ways, the amount of greenwashing in consumer tech is concerning, yet in others, the amount of desire and ambition in climate tech overall is motivating. Please continue to reach out with suggestions, referrals and feedback. 

To all new readers of Premoney: Welcome! If you haven’t already, please send me a note introducing yourself, why you signed up, and what type of investing & scouting you’re interested in. Note that this will be the second to last issue of this year, and the last of new companies I’ll be featuring. The final issue will be a wrap-up and reflection from 2022, along with plans for 2023. Happy investing!

On to the show!

🌿 This weeks companies: 🌿

🌿 Company: QuitCarbon

Founders: Cooper Marcus and Ben Stein

Raise Details: $4M seed on SAFE (50%+ committed)

Vertical: Climate, Home Improvement, Energy

Business Model: Marketplace, FinTech

1-liner: QuitCarbon builds personalized home electrification plans and connects homeowners with vetted contractors to electrify homes efficiently while growing contractor revenues.

Description: QuitCarbon is a managed marketplace that connects well-prepared homeowners to vetted contractors through proprietary, automated, and human-in-the-loop home-electrification planning, bid reviews, and rebate optimization. US homeowners will spend $1T electrifying in the next decade, accelerated by up to $830B in support from the Inflation Reduction Act.

Traction indicators:

• 100% MoM growth

• ~$8,000 revenue since launch in mid-2022 on $123,000 GMV

• Sign-ups doubling monthly since launch

• Cost to serve falling consistently via automation of intake, planning, and referrals

🌿 Company: WATS

Founder: Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli

Raise Details: Raising a $750,000 pre-seed round

• Small checks accepted

• Commitments high net-worth individuals including Bill Murphy, former CTO of Blackstone.

Vertical: B2B SaaS, Climate

Business Model: B2B

1-Liner: WATS is decarbonizing commercial buildings with waste reduction software

Description: WATS (Waste Administration + Tracking Software) helps businesses achieve waste reduction by quantifying the carbon footprint of the materials they discard, and automatically delivering action oriented steps to reduce impact. Companies adapting to the new net zero economy struggle to reduce waste with existing analog, fragmented tools, and intersecting social, corporate, and regulatory pressures are catalyzing new demand for waste management optimization, analytics, and carbon reporting.

Traction Indicators:

• Live pilots with enterprise customers:

  • Vornado Realty Trust’s NYC portfolio

  • In-N-Out Burger's 400 sites

  • 30 manufacturing sites through a waste brokerage channel partner.

• Our female founding team has decades of experience at the intersection of commercial waste and sustainability,

• 5-person full time team.

That’s all for this week!

Jake