Spherics, a U.K.-based carbon accounting platform for SMEs to understand and reduce their environmental impact, has been acquired by accounting giant Sage. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but it’s understood Spherics had raised £1.25 million in equity financing from angel investors and £300,000 in grants.
Spherics was a smaller startup playing in a similar space to larger ones, which include Normative, Plan A, Klimametrix.global, Persefoni and Planetly.com (other carbon accounting players, like Watershed and Climatiq, operate more like consultants).
Sage previously stated it plans to support SMEs to get to net zero, and this acquisition appears to be part of their strategy.
Spherics automates the process of calculating emissions by ingesting data from a company’s accounting software and matching transactions to gauge an estimate of their carbon footprint. It can also apply carbon emission factors to procurement categories (such as delivery, accommodation, electricity and travel).
“We know that SMBs care about the impact they have on the environment, and our research shows that they want to work with suppliers and partners that can help them understand and address it,” said Amaya Souarez, EVP Cloud Operations, Sage, in a statement. “By combining Spherics’ innovative software with Sage’s digital network, we are connecting businesses with their customer and supplier emissions data, enabling easy and collaborative climate action across value chains which helps to reduce carbon.”
George Sandilands, CEO and co-founder of Spherics, added: “Our vision and mission align very much with Sage’s core values, and we are excited to embark on this new journey to help SMBs knock down barriers to a more sustainable future. Global emissions are still rising fast, and we need immediate and meaningful climate action across the world.”
Headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, Spherics is the second Bristol startup to be acquired by Sage in the last year, after Brightpearl was picked up in 2021.
Bristol seems to be making a habit of climate tech, also producing Ecologi Zero, real-time carbon footprinting software for businesses.
Comment