Climate Technology Startup “Fairatmos” Receives Initial Funding of 69 Billion Rupiah

Fairatmos, a local carbon technology startup, announced an initial round of funding of $4,5 million (over 69 billion Rupiah) led by Go-Ventures and TBS Renewable Creations, the investment arm of local energy company Toba Bara Sejahtera. Vertex Ventures SEA and India and angel investors leaders took part in the round.

The fresh funds will be used to strengthen the platform by providing new digital innovations in the carbon market, reaching more communities and project developers, and expanding teams across functions, including remote sensing analytics, product and engineer.

Newly established startups this year ambition to democratize access to carbon markets through a platform that supports the development of carbon sequestration projects for communities, corporations and other parties. In addition, assisting project developers in the co-financing aspects of commercial entities and individuals.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, 196 countries endorsed the global goal of sustaining a global temperature rise of 1,5 degrees Celsius, meaning reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. 702 companies worldwide have pledged their net zero goals, namely very rapid growth in the previous year, including in Indonesia.

"One way for companies to meet their targets is to offset their emissions through carbon credits," said Fairatmos Founder and CEO Natalia Rialucky in an official statement, Monday (5/12).

Fairatmos products

Natalia continued, developing a high-quality and measurable carbon sequestration project is not an easy task. Despite Indonesia's abundant potential to become a global carbon sink, there have historically been few projects in Indonesia, as there are many technical barriers and up-front costs that make it difficult for communities and organizations to participate.

Fairatmos aims to democratize access to carbon markets. The company's mission is to improve the livelihoods of smallholder communities through additional income from involvement in carbon projects and reduce degradation of the surrounding ecosystems. Fairatmos is building innovative solutions that assist communities, asset owners and project developers to design and verify carbon projects, in addition to providing free technical guidance and digital pre-feasibility studies.

Its first product is the Digital Pre-Feasibility Study (Pre-FS) for carbon sequestration through mangrove conservation. The platform assists in a concise carbon verification process that includes identification, standardization, and selection of methodologies, up to methodologically based project feasibility checks.

According to Natalia, the normal process can take up to 60 days, so it requires high costs. Meanwhile with the Pre-FS platform this can be done in less than 7 days for free.

The Pre-FS platform is built with Remote Sensing and Machine Learning technology which is claimed to be able to accurately predict the potential of carbon sequestration projects. In development, Fairatmos always refers to databases issued by the government, such as the National Forest Reference Emission Level for Forest Deforestation and Forest Degradation issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

Some of the Digital Pre-FS projects currently being implemented by Fairatmos include a mangrove restoration program in Muara Badak Ulu, Handil Terusan village in East Kalimantan, and a mangrove restoration program in Cilacap, Ujungalang Village in West Java.

“All of these projects involve community farming and local business initiatives. The aim is to improve environmental ecosystems such as agroforestry and mangroves, preserve natural habitats such as mangrove trees, create tourism opportunities with ecotourism, and facilitate local business initiatives in mangrove products," said Natalia as quoted separately from SWA.

In the future, Fairatmos plans to link developers with companies and individuals who wish to offset their carbon emissions as part of the goal net zero they. In less than a year of operation, Fairatmos has gained strong traction and is working with more than 40 project developers on several carbon sequestration projects in mangroves, forests and agriculture.

“With forest cover of more than 126 million hectares, Indonesia is known globally as 'the lungs of the world'. The potential for the carbon market in Indonesia is enormous, with a value of $565 billion in carbon economic value," said Go-Ventures Partner Aditya Kamath.

Previously, the business relationship between Go-Ventures (in this case the GoTo Group) and TBS Renewable Creations in the field of renewable energy had existed since the establishment of the joint venture PT Energi Kreasi Bersama, with PT Rekan Anak Bangsa. This company is engaged in electric motor vehicles, including assembling, trading, financing, assembling batteries to providing battery exchange stations.

Fairatmos has partnered closely with the Indonesian government to follow regulatory guidelines in developing carbon projects. Companies were selected as official partners of the carbon neutral initiative at the recent B20 Summit in November 2022, the official dialogue forum of the G20 global business community.

Fairatmos is led by a strong founding team, with experience and a proven track record in climate and sustainability. Natalia Rialucky, has more than 10 years of experience leading sustainability initiatives for various agriculture and climate projects. Previously, he served as Chief Strategy and Social Impact Officer at TaniHub and Head of Social Impact at the Boston Consulting Group.

The company recently appointed Karida Niode as Head of Climate Solutions, who was previously a Consultant at a New York-based ESG company and other multinational companies for ESG management; Aruna Pradipta as VP of Growth and Partnerships, previously worked at Systemiq leading various projects in forest and community management; Fredric Tanuwijoyo, VP of Strategy and Project Development, previously served as a consultant at McKinsey.

"Going forward, we aim to continue breaking down barriers and developing technological innovations for our platform that will enable greater access to capital and technical expertise for carbon sequestration projects," he concluded.