Our Investment in Patch
The platform that powers climate action
At MCJ, we’re aware that emissions reductions alone are not enough to address the rampant levels of carbon in our atmosphere. Beyond decarbonization, the scientific community has reported that carbon removal needs to scale approximately 1 million times its current capacity by 2050. To do this, businesses and consumers alike need to not only be educated about their carbon footprint, but must also take action. But changing human behavior is no easy feat. Effective change requires the removal of barriers and seamless embedding of climate action into everyday activities.
While carbon utilization has emerged as an avenue for removing CO2, purchasing high-quality carbon credits is another means to addressing carbon. We’re proud to back Patch — co-founded by Brennan Spellacy and Aaron Grunfeld — as it leads a new era of climate action that is embedded into the global economy.
What is Patch?
Patch is building the infrastructure for a sustainable economy by enabling gigatonne scale carbon removal. With Patch, companies can embed climate action into their own products, offsetting the carbon impact of everyday transactions like shipping, travel and financial services, or the unavoidable emissions within their operations and supply chain. In doing so, businesses of any size and budget can easily tap into traditionally complex and opaque systems for purchasing carbon credits.
Not only does Patch allow companies and their consumers to take climate action through API integration, but they also ensure credits are purchased from trusted carbon projects. Patch’s extensive network of carbon removal projects diversify a company’s removal investments across a range of technologies, geographies, and UN Sustainable Development Goals. From traditional nature-based projects, such as forestry, soil, and kelp, to human-engineered carbon removal technologies, such as biochar, bio-oil, and mineralization, the company mindfully selects projects that have been certified and meet Patch’s quality requirements.
Why Did We Invest?
Compelling Founder-Market Fit
Brennan serves as the CEO & Co-Founder of Patch. Prior to founding Patch, Brennan worked in a range of product and engineering roles at Sonder and Shopify. He received a degree in chemical engineering from McGill University.
Prior to founding Patch, Aaron was the first employee at tech enabled hospitality company Sonder, where he helped scale their business to a $1B+ valuation by leading a number of business development and operations functions.
Patch’s staff count has grown from less than 10 to over 50, including a new Europe HQ.
Growing Demand for Accessible Climate Action
An overwhelming majority of consumers are serious about climate change and want to do their part in addressing the crisis. When audiences are poised to take action, it is then up to governments and businesses to provide guidance on meaningful changes people need to make, as well as remove barriers to entry. Patch is helping pave the way by attracting forward-thinking organizations and building climate action directly into their products and services. The company recently announced a $55M Series B raise and has raised $80 million to date. These milestones further prove the thirst for accessible climate action and Patch’s response to the growing demand.
We’re excited for Patch to build on its already impressive momentum and establish itself as the leader in enabling businesses and consumers to mitigate their carbon footprint.
Additional Resources
If you are an accredited investor and want to learn more about being an investor in our fund (to back more great companies like this one!), reach out here, and include desired quarterly commitment level, accredited investor status, and info on your background and how you could be helpful to the portfolio.