In recent months, sustainability has quickly become one of the top priorities for businesses, due largely to the growing market interest in ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) principles. These principles include corporate responsibility guidelines in areas such as hiring diversity, employee inclusion and, notably, carbon reduction and sustainability.
The process of figuring out what to change is currently a time- and labor-intensive one, wherein corporations need to rely on experts and lengthy analyses in order to find their sustainability gaps and how to bridge them.
With that in mind, a sustainability intelligence platform called Continue AI has entered the market, offering a quick and simple solution to finding those gaps — and it seems like investors believe it can make a big impact. This week, the company announced a $5.7M seed funding round led by Grove Ventures and Maple Capital, with participation from Ride Ventures, Liquid2, and Kindergarten Ventures.
“Business leaders know that a successful long-term strategy must marry increased profitability with sustainability,” said Lotan Levkowitz, general partner at Grove Ventures. “Continue AI's data-driven approach already shows unprecedented results in efficiently accelerating enterprises along their paths to sustainability. We believe their platform will be fundamental in the transformation into a more sustainable economy.”
How does the company use AI?
The company uses AI to build the largest sustainability database in the world and generate actionable insights for some of the world’s leading companies seeking to reach their sustainability goals. Its platform utilizes artificial intelligence to synthesize millions of data points to enable corporations to build roadmaps and provide recommended actions to empower them to make data-driven decisions to achieve their goals.
“Continue AI was born out of the need for organizations to strengthen their in-house sustainability expertise in order to actively transform the way they operate, however, most of them lack the knowledge or tools to do so” said CEO and cofounder Beeri Amiel. “Through our platform, we’re able to harness the power of data to provide a new layer of sustainability intelligence business leaders never had before to mobilize companies into sustainable action and create incredibly meaningful change.”
ESG adherence is indeed spreading within the Israeli business sector, and more companies are beginning to read the tea leaves. “We see that more and more institutional investors understand the link between impact and the financial value of what they do and the potential for high financial returns for those who will adopt it,” said Gal Hayut, co-founder of the Sustainable Development-focused capital fund Bridges Israel.
“On the corporate side, they’re not yet speaking about impact,” Hayut said. “But there is a much better understanding of its importance and potential, especially in the eyes of their customers, who shift towards consuming products from positive and impactful companies.”