Vaayu, a carbon tracking platform based in Germany aimed specifically at retailers has secured $1.57 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by CapitalT. Other angels who participated in the round were Atomico's Angel Program, Expedite Ventures, Planet Positive LP, NP-Hard Ventures, and Saarbrücker 21.

Carbon tracking, in particular for the retail fashion sector, is critical. Regrettably, the fashion sector continues to account for 10% of global carbon emissions, which is more than all international flights and marine transport combined.

Vaayu claims to work with a variety of point-of-sale platforms, including Shopify and Webflow. It then gathers information on logistics, operations, and packaging in order to track, quantify, and minimize carbon emissions. Retailers often compute emissions once a year, which is obviously far less accurate.

Namrata Sandhu (CEO), a former head of sustainability at fashion retailer Zalando, along with Anita Daminov (CPO) and Luca Schmid (CTO), launched Vaayu in 2020. Missoma, Armed Angels, and Organic Basics are among Vaayu's 25 global brand consumers.

Commenting on the fundraise, Vaayu’s CEO, Namrata Sandhu, said that they have only nine short years to reach the UN's target of lowering carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and as the third-largest contributor to global emissions, retailers need to take action — and soon. Vaayu is here to assist retailers measure, manage, and minimize their carbon footprint at scale throughout their whole supply chain, which is known can be difficult and expensive."

Sandhu commented that putting the emphasis on retail allows them to automate the computation, which means you can receive your carbon footprint in three clicks. That allows them to obtain extremely precise data, and with that, they can basically make business-specific reductions using software rather than any sort of manual intervention or a type of "intermediate" stage where you have to piece together a bunch of numbers in an Excel sheet. They can automate the entire process, as well as the savings because we specialize in retail.

Sandhu added that they’re delighted to have the support of CapitalT, a female-led firm that saw them and their goal from the beginning. They're excited to expand Vaayu in the next months so that they can reach as many stores as possible and help avert the looming climate crisis.

Founding partner of CapitalT, Janneke Niessen, said that they’re thrilled to be partnering with Vaayu on their aim to decrease carbon emissions for merchants throughout the world. Vaayu is extremely scalable, and its quick and simple setup enables rapid adoption. Vaayu will soon be one of the fastest-growing climate tech firms in Europe and the globe, thanks to this skilled team.