“Making climate policy simple” – British climate AI startup Maiven scores €1.7m in funding

Maiven’s premise is using AI to help businesses cut through the noise of constantly-updated European and national climate policies, to help them pinpoint how best to take action.

According to the startup’s research, businesses have faced an average of 54 new climate policies every year over the last 15 years. This “constant influx” of information “creates risk, confusion, and missed opportunities,” writes the company in its first post, published in tandem with its funding announcement.

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Maiven says its focus is on “making climate policy simple.” “We aim to spot policy changes early, prevent revenue loss, and unlock valuable opportunities,” writes the company.

The British business is now set to receive more than €1.7m (£1.5m) in funding from investors including UK-based Ada Ventures and Scandinavian VC fund Pale Blue Dot.

“We’re excited to lend our support to help this amazing team fulfil their potential,” Ada Ventures posted on LinkedIn. “Excited to embark on this journey with all of you!” added Pale Blue Dot.

Maiven’s cofounders are Larsen Mabika (CEO) and Georgie Steele (CTO), who met while previously working at Sylvera, a carbon data and climate action technology company. Mabika was one of Sylvera's first product hires, while Steele worked her way up from lead software engineer to head of ratings technology.

Steele previously had roles at AI firm tractable, and for McLaren Racing, creating and using processes to help design McLaren’s Formula 1 cars, but took to LinkedIn to share her excitement at becoming a VC-backed founder.

“Feeling very proud and grateful (and slightly emotional) to share what we’ve been building at Maiven with our incredible team,” Steele posted on LinkedIn just after Maiven’s funding announcement.

Her post also fleshes out the company’s vision.

Steel writes that companies have paid over $50 billion (€54bn) in climate fines for failing to adhere to climate legislation. This, she argues “doesn’t help the planet,” whereas she believes its AI technologies will.

“Our goal is to redirect that into climate action, giving businesses the tools to tackle climate goals head-on instead of facing penalties,” reads the post. “I’m super excited to be in a position where we can have such a big impact.”

In a news release, Ada Ventures Venture Partner writes that one of its partners, Dorothy Chou, initially met Maiven co-founder Georgie on a panel for Women who Build, a British initiative designed to connect female students and startups. The firm cites this as an example of the importance of “outreach” projects to help identify a broad range of future founders and companies.

‍“It goes to show that when you show up in unexpected places and spaces, the right deals come your way,” says Chou, who is the Director of Policy and Public Engagement at Google DeepMind, as well as an investor in Maiven.

Maiven is part of a growing wave of European startups leveraging technology to drive corporate climate action and facilitate compliance with evolving environmental regulations. For example, the German startup Plan A uses data-driven tools to help organisations measure and reduce their carbon footprints while staying compliant with environmental regulations. Additionally, French companies like Carbon4 and Greenly offer AI-powered solutions for businesses to track emissions and implement sustainable practices.