SC Ventures, the fintech investment and incubation branch of Standard Chartered, has partnered with the startup studio of the French multinational utility Engie Group to introduce Qatalyst, a due diligence platform tailored for carbon finance markets.
Developed in collaboration with carbon teams from both Engie and Standard Chartered, Qatalyst is designed to streamline the identification, due diligence, and oversight of carbon abatement projects. “There are several levels of due diligence that the Qatalyst platform supports,” says Poyan Rajamand, founder of Qatalyst. “We have an enterprise-grade solution that expedites carbon credit project assessments to facilitate objective, transparent data-driven decisions.”
The platform enhances investment workflows, facilitates documentation management, and enables effective information exchange and decision-making, while also gathering insights from companies and securing recorded consent from indigenous community members for project progression.
Harald Eltvedt, a member of SC Ventures and director of Qatalyst, emphasizes the initiative’s goal: “Qatalyst is working to ensure the credibility of carbon abatement projects by leveraging new technology, including AI-enabled tools, to help investors ascertain that a project is a sound investment while delivering its carbon impact promise.”
January has been an active month for the SC Ventures startup team, as Qatalyst launches shortly after the introduction of Labamu, an invoicing and billing platform for SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region.