FuturePlus secures £750K funding to assist businesses in reporting on sustainability and ESG
April 28, 2023/–As demand for sustainability and ESG reporting continues to grow, London-based sustainability management and ESG reporting platform, FuturePlus, has announced the successful completion of an up-round of funding worth £750,000. The round was led by Two Magnolias, a leading early-stage investment firm, and included participation from Vala Capital, which also backed Oxwash, as well as several high-net-worth individuals and family offices.
Since its launch in February 2022, the platform has raised over £1.6 million in venture capital investments and grown its workforce by 133% over the past year.
The newly secured funds will enable FuturePlus to invest in staff capacity, develop its platform, and acquire clients through marketing and PR.
Founded by Alexandra Smith and Mike Penrose, FuturePlus aims to help businesses manage their sustainability efforts and report on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. The platform offers a range of tools and services, including carbon footprint calculations, supply chain monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and reporting automation.
The platform deconstructs typical ESG measurement processes to focus on practical and realistic action plans that every business can follow successfully across the five themes.
Its indicators are comprised of 200-300 questions to educate companies and business leaders about how to make their operations more sustainable.
One of FuturePlus’ strengths is its ability to onboard companies from all sectors and sizes, while constantly encouraging and educating clients on not only how to be sustainable but also what to do to get there in a timely fashion.
The platform currently serves over 150 clients from various industries, including finance, hospitality, technology, built environment, and retail, among others.
Clients actively manage their sustainability ambitions across five themes: Climate, Economic, Diversity & Inclusion, Social, and Environment. Some of FuturePlus’ customers include Soho House, Grind Coffee, numerous VC and PE funds, Atlas FM, and The Project Management Institute.
Alexandra Smith, Co-Founder and Partner at FuturePlus, comments: “This fundraise has been conducted in a very challenging economy, but our merits and successes are firmly rooted in the fact that we have an incredibly strong team that is tackling sustainability in a way that’s never been done before. We’re proud that the VCs we’re working with can see that we are breaking new ground in a global business challenge that is not going away. We believe that approaching sustainability as an ongoing process creates a perpetual space for continual improvement, resilience building and prosperity for all organisations, including our own.”
Mike Penrose, Co-Founder and Partner at FuturePlus, adds: “This fundraise is a milestone achievement for us at FuturePlus as we are determined to keep building an empathetic company that makes achieving and embedding sustainability accessible for every business, across every sector. Our experience with investors has been that because FuturePlus meets a very real need within their own organisations, they buy into it, and we’re especially pleased to be helping numerous VCs and PE houses to monitor and manage the sustainability of their portfolios really simply and easily.”
Jessica Rasmussen, Co-Founder and CEO at Two Magnolias, says: “As one of our most recent investments, the Sustainability Group is showing great momentum, growing quickly and actively seeking new opportunities to help businesses around the world manage and track their ESG sustainability goals via its powerful platform, FuturePlus. Two Magnolias has a clear focus on maintaining a balanced portfolio of founders, which means we were especially keen to work with Alex and Mike who bring different, yet complementary skills to the table. They are a powerful, dynamic force, highly motivated to bring about real, tangible change in the world, which aligns perfectly with our own values.
“Earlier this year, Two Magnolias decided that FuturePlus would formally become its in-house ESG validation platform with all portfolio companies working through the assessment criteria, such that we can formally publish an holistic view of our investments. FuturePlus allows its clients to highlight the gaps in their approach to sustainability whilst setting clear ambitions for future success. It is essential for all of us to be held accountable as to how we manage and position our businesses, and we are excited to see the changes we’re able to effect using FuturePlus.”
