South West based tech start-up, Spherics, has been awarded the coveted Tech Nation ‘Rising Stars’ award as the national winner in the ‘Net-Zero’ category.
The Rising Stars competition is the only national tech scaleup competition in the UK, designed to showcase the most exciting companies at Seed to pre-Series A investment stage.
The winners have been selected through a rigorous competition process, with more than 330 applications received. Expert judges selected 10 ‘Rising Stars’ and 2 winners for specific award categories – environmental and diversity.
Applicants are recognised on a regional and national level, and in the regional stages, Spherics was selected as the South West winner for its pioneering platform designed to help SMEs effectively benchmark and tackle their carbon emissions and environmental footprint.
Spherics dazzled the judges and went on to be chosen as the national winner of the ‘Rising Star Net-Zero’ award. The accolade recognises the best net zero company in the competition and the category represents the best of climate tech.
Spherics’ innovative platform is designed to help SMEs measure, mitigate and manage their environmental impact. This accessible tool for environmental reporting and management fills a gap in the market for simple, powerful and affordable tools that empower SMEs to monitor and reduce their emissions – a process that can often be time-consuming, complex and expensive.
The Spherics platform links to popular cloud-accounting service providers (Xero, Quickbooks, Sage) and uses transactional data, supported by other data integrations to build up a robust carbon impact, in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Companies can then track and monitor their environmental impact over time and set goals for future reductions.
The platform combines research findings with user-data to provide strategies for reducing emissions and powerful insights to illuminate the road to net-zero business. By taking a data-led approach, the platform offers business users a simple system to thrive in a climate-conscious world and demonstrate commitment to environmental protection.
The award marks a significant progression for the Bristol-based team and the journey ahead. Focusing on SMEs, the Spherics software is currently free-to-use for businesses, in beta, before a commercial launch later this year.
Businesses can apply to be involved in the programme by completing a short online form on the Spherics website. All registered businesses will be offered free analysis of their carbon impact. All not-for-profit and registered charitable organisations will be able to access the platform free, for life. There will then be a subscription charge for companies registering following the planned launch in May 2021.
George Sandilands, co-founder of Spherics commented;
“We are delighted to have won this prestigious award that recognises the best tech startups across the country. Our mission is to support organisations approaching sustainability for the first time, as well as those who already have quality systems in place. Our tool, with a science-based approach, automates what can be a very time-consuming process.”
“As the impact of companies on the environment continues to be high on the national agenda, it is only a matter of time before smaller businesses face carbon tax and regulation. By adopting climate tools now companies can demonstrate their environmental impact to prospective customers and clients.”
“Spherics is leading the way for making climate action an efficient and easy process that any company can instigate as a simple tool in their business.”
Esme Caulfield, competitions lead, Tech Nation, commented: “The Tech Nation Rising Stars competition highlights the best in class companies in the UK at the seed and pre-Series A stages, and shows the amazing tech companies that make up the UK’s pipeline. “
“It’s incredibly exciting to see the 2021 Rising Stars winners across a broad mix of sectors like healthtech and edtech, as well as representing the most diverse Rising Stars cohort yet, with 50% of the winning companies having women founders, and 80% from outside London.”
Closer to home, Spherics is closely aligned with the Bristol Green Capital Partnership and the technology partner for the launch of Bristol’s “Climate Action Program” which will reframe the city’s green business strategy. Backed by Innovate UK and seed capital, the company is planning a Series A investment round later this year, which will bring green growth and venture capital to Bristol city.
Spherics is a member of the Sustainable Technologies Business Acceleration Hub and the Digital Innovation Business Accelerator Hub, centred at the University of Bath and University of Bristol, supported by the European Union. This partnership is a year-long accelerator program, working closely with the research arms of both universities supporting development in the areas of climate research and data science.
Businesses which are interested in registering their interest in the platform can visit the website for further information here: Spherics website
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