UK green supply chain startup Circulor raises $25m

UK startup Circulor, which uses blockchain technology to map supply chains for companies pursuing greener, more sustainable production, said on Tuesday it had raised $25 million to fund expansion, primarily in the United States.

The Series B funding round brings Circulor's fundraising over the last two years to $45 million. The funding round was led by early Tesla (TSLA.O) investor Westly Group and included investments from the venture capital arms of Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST), Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and BHP Group (BHP.AX), the world's largest listed miner.

Westly Group founder Steve Westly told Reuters that Circulor is "very much like Tesla," a pioneer in electric vehicles (EVs)that is the world's largest carmaker by market capitalisation.

"The market is going that direction in an extraordinarily rapid way... and Circulor is by far the leader in this sector," he said.

Circulor is working with carmakers including Volvo, Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) unit JLR, plus miners and energy companies BHP and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), to trace their supply chains as they pursue environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) goals.

BHP has used Circulor's blockchain platform to track the carbon emissions of nickel from the point when it was mined to Tesla's "gigafactory" in Shanghai.

Circulor CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen said demand for supply chain visibility has grown in response to regulatory pressure from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Global supply chain disruptions have given manufacturers further reason to seek scrutiny over every stage of a component's journey.