A group of investors is taking a $13 million bet on a Raleigh sustainability startup.
GreenPlaces, which hopes to bring sustainability to the mass market through an all-in-one sustainability platform, announced the fundraise Tuesday. The GreenPlaces software marries operational data with sustainability benchmarks to allow companies visibility of their carbon footprint, as well as insights to help them reduce their emissions and save money.
CEO Alex Lassiter admits it was a long haul to get the deal done. SVB’s collapse hit halfway through the fundraising process – just one of several hurdles hitting entrepreneurs in 2023.
“I would say the bar was significantly higher,” Lassiter said of the fundraising process. “I think if our numbers were not perfect, I think we would have had a really tough time.”
Key for GreenPlaces was communication, he said. The last time the company raised capital – a $3 million round last year – more venture capitalists had reached out than the round could accommodate. Lassiter said he stayed in touch with all of them.
When the time was right to raise capital, he reached out again to his list of 30 to 40 venture capitalists.
On the list was Red Point Ventures, which went on to lead the round. Felicis, Tishman Speyer Ventures and Bull City Venture Partners all participated.
“We’ve fortunately passed this agonizing phase of trying ot figure out if this is a real business,” Lassiter said. “We’re now in this phase of, we have a pretty clear idea of what we’ve been doing that is different.”
The raise gives the company more than three years of runway, depending on its trajectory, Lassiter said.
Now it’s about consistency – making sure every company it signs as the same experience and every sales rep is delivering, he said.
And that takes talent. Lassiter said part of the cash goes toward hiring across all fronts, from developers to salespeople to customer experience and designers – “anybody that’s got interest in climate – we’re trying to make sure we’re the best place to work in climate.”
GreenPlaces has 25 employees today and could be at 35 by the end of the year, Lassiter said.
Lassiter, whose last startup, Gather Technologies, sold to Vista Equity Partners, said he’s having “a lot of fun.”
“I could do this for the next 10 years and be really happy,” Lassiter said. “There’s so much that we have to accomplish. I would say we’re 1 percent through our ultimate product vision. It’s a really fun business. … Everything that we do has this net positive and so everyone’s like happy all the time and that’s just such a great experience.”
