Managing emissions has become a top priority issue for companies in the maritime industry. In particular, the EU’s decision to extend the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to shipping from January 2024 has far-reaching consequences for the industry.
However, the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulations in place since 2023 also continue to pose challenges for the sector. Sustainable fuels will play an important role as a solution in the future, as will new types of ships, but these are not yet available in the short term and are very expensive. Therefore, technology solutions that can be deployed immediately now play an essential role in reducing emissions.
In order to help the maritime sector achieve its sustainability goals, zero44, a SaaS startup for CO2 management of merchant ships, announced a successful funding round of €2.5 million led by early-stage investor Atlantic Labs. Also participated Starthub Ventures and Bernhard Schulte Innoport, as well as several business angels from the logistics and shipping industry.
Founded with the support of Flagship Founders, zero44’s technology can be deployed quickly and easily by companies, and they also benefit from the team’s expertise regarding the complex regulatory issues.
“The shipping industry needs to quickly become sustainable and reduce emissions. The pressure from politics and legislation has increased massively, and for many companies this is a huge challenge,” said Friederike Hesse, co-founder and CEO of zero44. “We offer them an answer and can help them to quickly become sustainable and reduce emissions. The fact that we were also able to convince Atlantic Labs of this vision and win them over as an investor is an important sign – for us and the entire market – especially in times when VC money is being awarded much more sparsely than before.”
Founded in May 2022, zero44 helps companies from the shipping industry (shipping companies, charterers and ship managers) to set up the optimal and commercially most sensible CO2 strategy and to reduce CO2 significantly and quickly. In particular, zero44 supports its customers in participating in EU emissions trading, which will become mandatory in the maritime sector from January 2024.
In its first year of existence, zero44 has already been able to win well-known customers and partners, including MPC Container Ships as a development partner and MariApps Marine Solutions as a distribution partner.
Christophe M. Maire, Founder and Managing Partner of Atlantic Labs, comments: “Decarbonization in shipping is an extremely important, promising field in which we want to invest more. And zero44 has convinced us: the team is doing great work and the timing is perfect. The entire market is urgently looking for the best options to reduce emissions and make the transition to the EU Emissions Trading System as smooth as possible. With zero44, they are finding that solution. We are sure: the company has a great future ahead of it.”
