Leafr, a startup from London attempting to bridge the gap between corporates and sustainability talent, has raised £600,000 from investors.
As climate and sustainability regulations and requirements become more necessary, firms will increasingly need staff able to carry out those mandates.
And while large businesses can appoint in-house sustainability teams or hire consultancy firms, Leafr claims the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises have been left behind.
To address this, Nick Valenzia and Gus Bartholomew launched Leafr to offer SMEs access to sustainability experts at what it claims is a third of the cost of traditional consultancies.
“The skills gap is the elephant in the room for sustainability. We can invest billions into new technology, policies and subsidies but without access to the right skills to implement them, we risk wasting our efforts,” said Valenzia.
“Businesses are drowning in sustainability data requests from clients and new regulations and are struggling to keep up.”
Valenzia has a solid background in consulting, having worked with PwC and Accenture, while Bartholomew previously founded and ran Supplycompass, a startup supporting sustainability in fashion supply chains.
“The future of work is flexible, especially within sustainability, where most projects do not need expensive full-time hires,” Valenzia added.
The investment for Leafr was led by Haatch VC and featured participation from NextStep, Venture Catalysts and a handful of angels.
“Millions of businesses need a smarter, more cost-effective way to access sustainability expertise,” said Fred Soneya, a partner at Haatch VC.
“Leafr is doing for sustainability what the gig economy did for digital skills. They’re making in-demand expertise accessible at scale, and we’re excited to support them as they tackle this problem.”
Leafr claims to have over 1,000 vetted sustainability consultants in its network, specialising in areas such as retail, manufacturing and professional services. Clients include WD40, Freddie’s Flowers and the UN Foundation.
Though there are signs from the US that environmental regulations may face a backtrack, Leafr expects a continued commitment to enforce sustainable requirements from bodies like the European Union.