At a glance

SPONSOR is the AI-powered fintech to enable Climate Mitigation Projects (CMP).

• The platform enables developers to source and close more CMPs faster through:

  • Information symmetry: Making it easier to plan, standardise, and negotiate CMPs.

  • Efficient processes: Increase visibility of task ownership, and standardisation to facilitate deals and reduces risk of delays.

  • Accessible deal flow: The regulated central marketplace facilitates deal evaluation and participation enabling achievement of climate, and business goals.

Quick fire details

• Headquarters: Luxembourg (initiating move to incorporate in the UK)

• Employee count: 30 (full time)

• Business model: Monthly retainer fees, subscriptions, success fees

• Backed by: $400,000 F&F round

• Funding amount: Raising $2M SAFE round

The founders

• Cofounder & CEO, Michael Grimm: 12-years in Project Finance, 7-year entrepreneur. ~$30B in Project Finance deals and experience in 20+ countries & on 80+ deals. Ex SMBC, Nomura, US DOE, ADB and Lehman.

• Cofounder & CTO, Steven Lawson: 21-years in Software Engineering, 10-year CTO/Head of Engineering. Expert in: Cross platform development, process automation and pipelines, analytics and data visualisation and rights management.

• Co-Founder & Head of IR & BD, A.T.M. Rahat Mohammad: 11-years in garments industries, ship-breaking, commodities trading and 6-years in finance project & trade. ~$900M annually in trade finance for south

  Asian countries.

The market

• There is a $3.5T funding gap for CMPs. There are currently limited expert human resources to structure deals, inefficient, high touch processes and insufficient bankable deals.

This startup is solving three key problems:

• Information asymmetry: Knowledge of global best practices limited to less than 100,000 people globally.

• Inefficient processes: Impedes deals and introduces a high risk of project delays and failures.

• Insufficient deal flow: Gatekeeping, poor visibility, and a fragmented marketplace further limit deal flow.

Traction metrics

• Beta platform is now live and gaining strong traction across 13+ countries.

• Signed their first government MOU with the Central Bank of Bangladesh.

• In discussion with 30 global projects governments & developers (7-year deal pipeline).

• MRR = $230K (cash-flow positive)

• $2M SAFE round open and moving quickly

• Supporting $10B in CMPs (as of Feb 2025)

Competitive landscape

• Pachama: Focus on carbon project verification and marketplace access, leveraging satellite and AI data.

• ClimateTrade: A carbon credit marketplace connecting businesses to mitigation projects.

• Carbonfuture: A platform for carbon tracking and trust-building in carbon removal projects.

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Our Take

Appeals

• Not just a marketplace: Most platforms are simply a marketplace, SPONSOR offers a comprehensive suite of software and AI solutions to support CMPs from origination, through to preparation, structuring, due diligence, and financial close.

• Global presence (first in market): SPONSOR will be the first platform to support CMP projects of all types and sizes, and all stakeholders, globally.

• Fully regulated: SPONSOR conducts KYC (subject to Luxembourg and EU regulations) on all users and organisations so customers can do deals with other users confidently.

Risks

• Regulatory Uncertainty: As SPONSOR operate across multiple jurisdictions, evolving climate finance and data privacy regulations could pose challenges to scaling quickly.

• Project Pipeline Quality: Ensuring consistent quality and bankability of climate mitigation projects sourced globally remains a key focus area.

• Adoption Curve: While interest is strong, mainstream adoption from institutional investors and governments may take time due to the innovative nature of the AI-driven platform.

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