London-based Clearly, an AI-based climate intelligence platform, announced that it has secured $4.3M (approximately €3.92M) in a seed round of funding.
The round was led by Pace Ventures and Nine Realms, with additional investment from existing mobility investors Mobilion, Next Gear, and M1720, as well as angel investors including Lord Nash and Margaux Primat.
Capital utilisation
According to the International Energy Agency, as transportation emissions rise, with a 60 per cent increase projected by 2050, urgent action is needed to prevent severe environmental and economic impacts.
Marius Swart, Partner at Pace Ventures, says, “As the transport sector transitions to using greener technologies, we see the need for data-driven procurement and AI-enabled operational decision-making broadening at a fast pace. Clearly is making sustainable transportation more than just a choice for its customers, it’s making it a competitive advantage.”
“This space is expanding rapidly and we were impressed by the significant demand from large corporates and the financing sector for Clearly’s product.”
The funds will help Clearly enhance its current product offerings and expand its suite of proprietary AI capabilities. Additionally, the company plans to scale its team to meet increasing global demand for its product.
Christy McCaig, Partner at Nine Realms, adds, “Unlike other tools, Clearly offers actionable insights to help fleet operators achieve their goals in the most commercially viable way. We were impressed with the team and their early traction with enterprise customers, and we’re thrilled to support them in their next stage of growth.”
An AI-based climate intelligence platform
The transport sector, which contributes 25 per cent of global emissions, needs investment, $1.75T annually for road transportation alone, to achieve net-zero goals. This has driven over half of CEOs to seek better data visibility for reducing emissions, as noted by the United Nations.
Clearly addresses this challenge by offering logistics operators, fleet owners, and supply chain participants critical real-time insights to boost operational and financial efficiency.
The company’s technology integrates diverse data sources, such as GPS, tracking, IoT, vehicle performance, operations, and energy usage, to provide actionable emission-related insights. This helps operators select effective decarbonisation strategies and secure financing for these initiatives.
Clearly’s platform, already used by major blue-chip companies across the US, Europe, and Asia, tracks over 100 million trips and delivers valuable insights to various sectors, including consumer goods, parcel delivery, vehicle distribution, logistics, and fleet management.
Danielle Walsh, founder and CEO of Clearly, says, “Decarbonising supply chains is not a new challenge, but one of the largest hurdles for businesses has been accessing and analysing comprehensive data, as a direct result of supply chain complexities and the nature in which this data has been collected up until now.”
“We saw that by using our unique approach to collect, normalise and blend supply chain data, we could improve its interoperability and use it to provide actionable insights on transportation emissions down to the level of individual trips and packages.”
“We are deliberately hardware-agnostic, which means our platform is compatible with any data source, overcoming the significant initial challenge of data acquisition,” adds Walsh.
Once integrated, Clearly’s AI system runs numerous scenarios to find targeted interventions, helping management optimise vehicle configurations, guide drivers, and improve operational processes.
Co-founder Walsh further adds, “While fleet electrification provides a significant step towards reducing emissions, our data was able to show that as much as 30 per cent of fuel consumption is influenced by driving behaviour alone.”
“By making actionable insights like these readily available, we’re able to help companies improve the way their businesses operate, highlighting strategic optionality beyond capital-intensive adjustments to vehicle fleet mix, and recommend changes that can be made immediately to improve environmental and financial outcomes.”
