Canva’s Cameron Adams Backs Tasmanian Carbon Accounting Startup Sumday in $2M Seed Round
Tasmanian accounting software startup Sumday has raised $2 million in a pre-Seed round as it looks to expand globally.
The raise was supported by VC funds Blackbird and Possible Ventures, as well as Canva co-founder Cameron Adams and Lisa Miller, CEO of Wedgetail Ventures.
Sumday empowers accountants and bookkeepers to provide non-financial accounting services to their clients, starting with carbon accounting
The startup is the next step for co-founders, former lawyer Jessica Richmond and CA accountant Danny Hoare and CPA Lindsay Ellis, who started their own accounting firm two years ago in the northern Tasmanian industrial town of Burnie.
Richmond said natural capital is also in their sights on the platform, which is also designed for companies, funds and government organizations looking to integrate non-financial accounting into their existing processes.
She said Sumday was born out of frustration over the lack of accuracy and transparency in the carbon accounting process and the lack of resources available to help their accounting firm manage the increasing demand for the service.
“Very few organizations can tell you with any certainty how their carbon emissions are calculated, or what impact their purchasing decisions have on their overall footprint,” she said.
“The data we need for that largely doesn’t exist and we’re here to change that.
“Accountants have the perfect skills to help companies with this – so we support them to play a key role in saving the planet.”
With the carbon accounting framework new to many consultants, Lindsay Ellis has developed an 18-part course on delivering carbon to Sumday clients
“The race is on to make non-financial accounting a part of business as usual, every accountant we’ve spoken to agrees this is our space to lead and I truly believe this will be a turning point in the way we account for things that really matter, beyond dollars and cents,” he said.
The subscription-based software startup plans to use the new capital to develop its software and accelerate its global expansion, with the US and UK on the drawing board for later this year.
Blackbird partner Michael Tolo said the same rigor demanded for financial accounting urgently needs to be applied to carbon accounting.
“To accelerate climate investments in the coming decades, we need a better approach to understanding how, and exactly to what extent, these investments will reduce our emissions,” he said.
“Sumday is building the tools to make this accessible to any business.”
Getting Cameron Adams, who owns a farm in Tasmania, on the dressing table is a lesson for all founders. Richmond told the Startup Daily show today that they tracked him down to an event where he spoke and pitched their pitch to the Canva co-founder, who loved it.
“Sumday has a real advantage in building a product that understands where carbon accounting is going and who is going to help companies deal with its implications – the accountants!” Adams said.
“We were even more excited to hear that they are thinking even *further* ahead to account for natural capital, which will be the next major wave in addressing the impact we all have on biodiversity and the planet.”
