Collison-backed Watershed eyes European expansion

Watershed, the climate tech software start-up backed by Stripe cofounders Patrick and John Collison, is to open its dual headquarters in London and add jobs as it plans to expand in Europe.

The company, which helps businesses design climate programmes with concrete emissions reduction targets to reach net zero, also said it had appointed Ellen Moeller as its new European chief, and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney as an advisor. Christiana Figueres, who is former executive secretary of the UNFCCC and an architect of the landmark Paris Agreement, has also been brought on board as a strategic advisor.

Ms Moeller, who headed up EMEA partnerships and operations at Stripe, will grow Watershed’s European headcount to 30 employees by the end of 2022 and will triple that figure by the end of next year.The company is hiring for roles in product, climate strategy, policy, and analytics teams.

“With 20 per cent of revenue already coming to the region, we’re bringing ambitious plans to grow our presence in this critical market and partner with some of the most prominent thought leaders in the space,” said Ms Moeller.

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Unstructured data

The platform takes unstructured data from invoices from across business operations, and collaborates with in-house teams and third-party suppliers to get real carbon figures to cut emissions. It also offers a marketplace of carbon removal partners actively developing technologies to permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere.

"Europe is leading the world in the fight against climate change, setting ambitious targets and legislation across multiple policy areas, and binding emissions targets for key sectors of the economy," said Taylor Francis, co-founder of Watershed. "We're investing heavily in Europe to help businesses get the data, software, and support they need to accelerate decarbonisation efforts."

The company has the backing of European investors Aglaé Ventures, David Helgason, founder of Unity, as well as Stripe co-founders Patrick & John Collison.

Among its customers are Monzo, Wise, Revolut, Kainos, Hopin, Spotify and Klarna based in Sweden, and France-based Dataiku.

“Businesses have a big role to play in bending the carbon curve of the world. I’m excited about the deepening coalition of European policymakers and businesses that are leading the way. Watershed putting down roots in Europe will give European companies the tools they need to get to net zero fast,” said Stripe president John Collison.

Watershed raised $70 million at a $1 billion valuation in its Series B funding round in 2022.