Sustainability software specialist secures £600k investment from The Co-operative Bank

London based, sustainability-focused software company Zellar has received a £600k investment from The Co-operative Bank.

The deal follows the successful roll-out of an initiative launched earlier this year, in which The Co-operative Bank pledged to provide lifetime subsidised access to Zellar for all of its UK-based SME customers. The Co-operative Bank’s investment is in return for a two percent share of Zellar, based on a £33m market valuation.

Zellar was founded to help SMEs measure, plan, activate, report and share their sustainability journey and reduce costs. It captures every sustainable action that a business takes and reflects it all within a single score that shows both them and the outside world their sustainability progress.

As the only UK high-street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy, The Co-operative Bank has committed to “inspiring others” to develop a target-driven sustainability strategy and is supporting customers who want to evolve how their businesses operate.

As part of the agreement The Co-operative Bank will continue to promote Zellar to its SME customer base. It will also work closely with the company to help develop products and services that reward and incentivise sustainable businesses - in line with Zellar’s scoring framework. The Co-operative Bank will also sit on Zellar’s steering committee.

Zellar plans to use the investment to support a number of platform developments already in flight. Zellar is currently focused on creating richer, deeper and more meaningful experiences within the platform, by heavily customising the sustainability journeys across an initial 64 business sectors.

Gary Styles, founder and CEO of Zellar, commented: “As the UK high street bank with the best ESG score from independent analysis, The Co-operative Bank is a perfect investor for Zellar. We hold so many shared values.

“We both believe passionately in cutting through the greenwash and driving meaningful environmental change, and helping local businesses and their wider communities to take action.

“The overwhelming interest shown by The Co-operative Bank’s customers following our launch programme in June this year, is a real confirmation of the synergies between our two companies. This investment will help us to deliver an even better, more meaningful experience to our shared customers and beyond.”

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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