Copenhagen-based startup BeCause has collected a $450K investment from angel investors Carsten Mahler and Daniel Heskia. The startup simplifies and accelerates the flow of sustainability data for tourism companies, empowering them to effectively manage their sustainability efforts and gain a competitive edge while positively impacting people, the planet, and their financial performance. The investment represents not only a substantial financial boost for BeCause’s upcoming endeavors but also unlocks a treasure trove of strategic wisdom and unparalleled guidance. Mahler and Heskia, known for their astute ability to identify triumphs in the business realm and generate remarkable returns, bring a touch of brilliance and finesse to BeCause’s pursuit of success.
The startup’s AI-powered sustainability hub simplifies, speeds up, and reduces costs for sustainability management in the tourism industry, freeing up resources and allowing for greater real-world impact. By eliminating 60% of the resources previously used for repetitive, error-prone manual administrative tasks, BeCause enables stakeholders to stay up to date with the latest sustainability improvements, resulting in a sixfold faster return on sustainability investments. This improvement ultimately leads to a significant increase in bottom-line profits, potentially amounting to millions of dollars for a typical hotel chain in the first year alone.
“Since our founding, we’ve already attracted some of the world’s leading travel and tourism brands, including Booking.com, GreenKey and other leading travel & tourism companies, all of whom believe in our platform’s ability to transform their approach to sustainability and are committed to providing sustainable options to travelers while improving how their companies manage their sustainability efforts more efficiently,” said says Frederik Rubens Steensgaard, CEO and Co-founder of BeCause.
The investment, secured ahead of the startup’s official seed round opening, enables BeCause to expand its commercial and product development efforts with added resources and runway. “Ineffective sustainability management is costing hotel and travel brands over $8 billion each year, in addition to missed revenues of at least $13 billion annually based on our industry estimations,” added Steensgaard. “This early investment addresses a significant need in the industry and helps support our mission of making sustainability management simpler, faster and cheaper so that tourism companies can make a tangible impact on people, the planet and their profits.”
Investors Mahler and Heskia have a track record of founding successful companies, including FundConnect, which before its acquisition, provided data management and reporting solutions for the financial sector and is now Europe’s preferred neutral fund data infrastructure. The investors’ success with FundConnect, which manages financial data similarly to how BeCause handles sustainability data, highlights their expertise in creating and scaling digital ecosystems. It also points to the potential of future applications for BeCause’s sustainability data solutions beyond the travel and tourism sector.
The investment also comes at a time when the market for sustainability data solutions is maturing. Over the last 24 months, regulations and supply chain pressures have spurred demand for the solutions BeCause has developed – AI-enabled automation and streamlining of sustainability data and workflows across multiple stakeholders.
The startup’s technology framework connects certification entities such as Green Key and travel providers and distributors, enabling over 10,000 hotels and OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) to provide travelers with accurate and reliable sustainability data. These processes, traditionally handled via spreadsheets, emails and unconnected niche systems, are ripe for transformation, and the need to manage them efficiently to ensure compliance and competitive advantage is fueling BeCause’s growth.
“We see the potential impact of BeCause’s sustainability data management hub can have on businesses, and we believe in their unique approach to applying these principles to sustainability,” says Carsten Mahler, former CEO of FundConnect and Danske Invest, one of the largest and oldest mutual funds in the Nordics. “We are excited to join Frederik and his team on this journey and provide guidance and support to help them achieve their profit with a purpose-driven goal. We have been impressed by the team.”
The investment was made through Prolab Holding, an entity held by Mahler and Heskia. Other investors in BeCause include Innovation Fund Denmark, Alchemist Accelerator, the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship, Vækstfonden, and Corde Invest.
