Clean Energy Procurement and Management Software Provider Verse Closes $5.75M Seed Round Led by Coatue, Launches First Product, and Signs Climeworks as Customer

Verse's Aria platform leverages generative AI to make buying and managing clean power simpler, faster, and more affordable for organizations

SAN FRANCISCO, July 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Verse, a company founded to help organizations everywhere unlock the benefits of clean power, today announced it has closed a $5.75 million seed funding round. Led by Coatue with participation from Twine Ventures, MCJ Collective, firstminute capital, Collaborative Fund, Future Positive, and Incite.org, among others, the investment will enable Verse to help organizations procure, manage, and report on carbon-free energy assets faster and more cost-effectively than they can today.

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"Reshaping the emission intensity of our electricity system is a key step in getting to net zero. At the same time, for organizations that have outlined net zero goals, there isn't an easy or transparent way to procure electricity from renewable sources," said Jaimin Rangwalla, Senior Managing Director at Coatue. "Verse has built a proprietary software platform to manage this process from end-to-end, which we believe is primed to redefine how businesses procure and manage clean energy. We are excited by the potential for Verse's technology to support corporate sustainability and emissions reduction goals."

Organizations across industries are increasingly committing to reducing their carbon emissions, not only to combat climate change but also to reduce costs and mitigate the risks associated with volatile wholesale power markets. But with a lack of dedicated tools and infrastructure, much of the process remains confined to spreadsheets that are ill-suited to making robust, data-driven decisions. Furthermore, the expertise and resources required to procure clean power are prohibitive and out of reach of all but the biggest organizations.

This month, Verse launched Aria, the enterprise platform for buying and managing clean power, to address these pain points. Leveraging generative AI, Aria will allow organizations to define their clean power goals, design and procure a portfolio of clean energy assets, manage those assets, and report on portfolio performance. By empowering companies to reduce costs, de-risk energy procurement, and expedite transactions, Aria will help accelerate and scale organizational adoption of clean energy.

Verse has also signed a customer agreement with Climeworks, a pioneering company offering high-quality carbon removal services via direct air capture (DAC) technology. Partnering with Verse will allow Climeworks to design and procure future-proofed, risk-optimized portfolios of clean energy assets to power their CO2 removal operations.

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"Widespread access to clean power is a fundamental need for our industry to deliver high-quality carbon removal at gigaton scale," said Climeworks COO Douglas Chan. "As a global leader spearheading DAC technology, Climeworks looks forward to partnering with Verse for a new, easier approach to the process of buying and managing clean power."

"We're incredibly grateful to Coatue for leading this round, and to all our investors for supporting our efforts to help companies reduce their carbon emissions," said Verse CEO Seyed Madaeni. "This funding enables us to further our mission of unlocking the benefits of clean power for organizations everywhere. We are also very excited to have signed our first commercial contracts, including with an industry leader like Climeworks. Clean power procurement will be a strategic imperative for every sector, and we look forward to helping Climeworks and other companies reduce the cost and complexity of buying and managing clean power."

About Verse

Founded in 2022, Verse's Aria software platform leverages generative AI to help companies quickly, easily, and cost-effectively transition to clean power. Aria empowers companies to define, design, manage, and report on optimal portfolios of clean energy assets to meet their financial and emissions-reduction targets. Verse was founded by Seyed Madaeni and Matt Penfold, who previously held leadership roles at Fluence, where they oversaw its digital business unit and played a central role in the company's successful $5B+ IPO. Prior to Fluence, Seyed and Matt led AMS, where they pioneered and commercialized the world's leading AI-enabled wholesale market bidding software for utility-scale clean energy assets. For more information, visit www.verse.inc.

SOURCE Verse, Inc.