Techstars Alumni: How Riverse ensures carbon credits make a real difference

French carbon credit startup, Riverse , came through Techstars Berlin in 2022. Since then, the three co-founders — CEO Ludovic Chatoux , CRO Grégoire Guirauden , and CPO Clément Georget — have been quietly making positive waves in a space that has often hit headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

Riverse raised €1.5 million in seed funding in June 2023 and received full ICROA (International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance) accreditation in May 2024. Since launch, the team has approved 50+ projects and issued over 230,000 highest-integrity, science-grounded carbon credits. That’s pretty good going in just two years. 

Just the 2nd independent organization to be accredited by ICROA in the European Union, the Riverse standard is the first dedicated to technology-based European circular economy projects. Circular projects are highly measurable and taking this focus provides a tangible means of encouraging a more sustainable economy. 

Customers can choose between four types of carbon credits — electronic device refurbishing, biomass carbon removal and storage, biogas from anaerobic digestion, and bio-based construction materials —  which remove and avoid greenhouse gas emissions. 

Riverse encourages organizations to invest in low-carbon projects related to their sector. So, for example, a tech company could buy electronics refurbishing carbon credits. 

By taking this approach, Riverse keeps carbon credits local, understandable, manageable, and measurable, and ensures they can stay true to their goal of bringing real integrity to the carbon market which is expected to be valued at $50 billion by 2030. 

Carbon credit platforms need to enable organizations to truly cut and offset emissions, not just fudge their carbon accounting. That’s why the Riverse team is building trust and integrity in the market and is making a genuine positive impact in the fight against the climate crisis. 

Carbon credits are also a way to fund low-carbon projects and to distribute the funds desperately needed to finance the green transition. Riverse facilitates responsible climate action and will play a key role in enabling the European economy to meet net-zero targets in a meaningful, principled way. That sounds like a worthwhile mission to us. 

Want to get an inside look at what drives the Riverse team? Check out their excellent, highly-detailed blog .