Interview With Kim Stroh, Co-Founder Of Carbon Footprint Management Company Persefoni

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“The ClimateTech space is new and constantly evolving.”

What gave you the inspiration for founding Persefoni? 

Kim Stroh
Kim Stroh, Persefoni co-founder

I have always been a “builder” throughout my career in technology. When Kentaro presented the vision of a SaaS company delivering business value and making a positive impact to the earth, I was instantly sold. My husband and I have a passion for spending time outdoors and have watched as climate change damage has been more and more impactful to our natural resources. The opportunity we have to make a lasting change is passing us by and if our software can help companies easily identify, calculate, report and ultimately reduce their carbon emissions, then I have succeeded.

Founding a climate tech company, what are the lessons learned as of now – what would you do differently next time? 

The subject of carbon accounting is broad and complex, so we purposely didn’t limit our focus to any industry or number of calculations we’d support. This means we did a lot of foundational work in research, education, development, and documentation very early on to become successful. The ClimateTech space is new and constantly evolving, and Persefoni is keeping right up to meet the needs of this growing and emerging space by listening closely to our customers. When we started Persefoni, no one could have predicted the wave of regulatory changes now happening in ClimateTech. If I had a crystal ball, I’d pay earlier attention to the regulatory changes being proposed and continue to work closely with our customers to help them understand potential impact and prioritize the development of Persefoni’s features.

Persefoni dashboard

How are investors responding to Persefoni, and how did this change over the course of the development? 

We have had and continue to have great investor support. Most recently, we announced $9.7 million Series A funding, led by Rice Investment Group (RIG), NGP ETP, and Sallyport Investments. They’ve been incredibly supportive in our goal to help enable Persefoni to invest our growing team of software and sustainability experts, scale platform innovations for global enterprises, and extend our leadership in the ClimateTech market.

Which people and entrepreneurs motivate you? 

As I get older, I look for inspiration in a variety of circles. My goal is to expand my influence by expanding my knowledge and continuing to learn new things – whether in business, finance, technology, or just for fun. I love reading anything by authors like Malcolm Gladwell and Randall Munroe and enjoy an escape into mystery or science fiction. I think history has a lot to teach, with entrepreneurs from Henry Ford to Jobs and Gates who were changing the world in my teenage and college years, to Bezos and Musk today. There are also more women than ever before speaking up and out to promote women leaders in small and large companies. We need all types of role models to inspire new generations to take us forward.

If you had to describe Persefoni to a CleanTechnica reader and to a potential corporate customer – how would you describe the company and the service? 

Persefoni is a Climate Technology startup that has created a first-of-kind, enterprise platform for carbon footprint management, using analytics and AI to help large businesses calculate and reduce their carbon footprints. Offered as a service, Persefoni enables enterprises to systematically lower the environmental impact of their operations, turning raw data aggregated across multiple business units into data-driven, actionable insights. Enterprises will see a full map of their carbon footprint, parsed using natural language processing into consumption buckets – like “business travel” – that are easy to track and tackle.

What are your current customers most excited about? How is this different from what competitors offer? 

We work a lot with the investment community, and Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) is a primary focus for them. We are a leader in allowing users to align to both the GHGP and PCAF frameworks.

What do you think are the major challenges coming up for Persefoni?

Staying focused on delivering the roadmap strategy we have laid out. With continued market pressures to deliver, based on a new competitor or press release, Persefoni is focused on delivering the most value to solve business problems.

Persefoni dashboard

Next to Persefoni, which technologies, trends, and companies are you most excited about for the next 5 years? 

I think we have the best opportunity in changing the way people work to no longer limit opportunities by location. We found during the last year many new ways to work, connect, and be impactful without being in the same room. As we continue to evolve to the “disruption” a global pandemic has caused, we must look to expand our diversity of thought by bring new views, opinions, and technology into business practices.

If you weren’t working on Persefoni, what else do you think you’d like to dedicate your time towards?

I am always drawn to new technology spaces and trying to set a path in an area I am not familiar but in which I feel potential to learn and grow. I really like math and science and have been blessed by the opportunities I have had using those skills. I would love to see many more women and girls have the opportunity to focus their talents in those areas, especially ClimateTech.


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Benjamin Schulz

I'm investing in positive companies and am passionate about climate action and long-term human challenges. Early partner at BEAM (United People of Climate Action) and CleanTechnica (#1 cleantech-focused new & analysis website in the world), among others.

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