Montréal-based emissions monitoring company GHGSat has secured $59.9 million CAD ($44 million USD) in its Series C1 funding round. The funding round included equity and debt, with participants such as Fonds de solidarité FTQ, BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the Government of Québec through Investissement Québec, Climate Investment, and the Japan Energy Fund. The equity portion of the funding round was facilitated by BofA Securities.
GHGSat made headlines in June 2016 when it unveiled the world’s first satellite capable of measuring greenhouse gas emissions. The Bank of Montreal (BMO) provided debt facilities to support GHGSat.
With this new funding, GHGSat plans to accelerate its go-to-market strategy, develop integrated solutions, and expand its satellite and airborne measurement capacity. The company has experienced rapid growth since its previous funding round and has made significant advancements in next-generation measurement and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
GHGSat currently has satellite services agreements in place for hosted payloads on three new satellites, set to launch by the end of 2023. Additionally, four more satellites are scheduled for launch in 2024. The company intends to dedicate one payload from each deployment in 2023 and 2024 to carbon dioxide monitoring. GHGSat currently has nine satellites in orbit, and its measurements have been validated by independent commercial and scientific organizations.
According to GHGSat, it has helped mitigate 5.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from industrial facilities worldwide. This is equivalent to the emissions of over 1.2 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for a year.
The successful funding round highlights GHGSat’s position as a leader in greenhouse gas emissions intelligence. The company enjoys ongoing support from existing investors who have reinvested in the Series C1 round, laying the foundation for future growth and innovation.
GHGSat, founded in 2011 by CEO Stephane Germain, aims to become the global reference for remote sensing of greenhouse gas emissions using satellite technology. Its satellites utilize spectrometer imaging to capture high-resolution images of methane emissions. GHGSat has received previous investments from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and has partnered with the Canadian government to contribute to the International Methane Emissions Observatory.
Overall, this funding round will enable GHGSat to further expand its operations, drive growth, and continue its mission of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sites.