Sunhat receives two million euros in seed funding

Cologne-based startup Sunhat secures seed funding of two million euros. The company aims to optimize processes for answering sustainability questionnaires and ESG ratings for large companies in the supplier industry.

The round was led by renowned early-stage investors such as Capnamic Ventures and xdeck ventures, along with participation from WEPA Ventures. Additionally, several business angels from the technology, compliance and sustainability sectors have expressed confidence in the software solution for enterprise customers.

Instead of driving change in the organization and embedding sustainability in relevant processes, sustainability teams today spend a large part of their time on the administrative work around external questionnaires and requirements.

Lukas Vogt, Cofounder & CEO Sunhat

In the supply industry, sustainability officers face the challenge of dealing with a multitude of questionnaires and certifications on sustainability criteria from different vendors. Customers and business partners are increasingly demanding solid evidence and detailed explanations of sustainable developments such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or the implementation of internal sustainability goals.

If companies are unable to provide this evidence, they face significant loss of sales, loss of customer relationships, and potentially large fines in the millions of dollars. It is therefore increasingly important that companies have effective systems and solutions in place to meet sustainability requirements in their supply chain and be able to provide appropriate evidence.

We see software in many enterprises as a solution to become more efficient, as skilled staff and budgets are not sufficient to keep up with new requirements.

Jörg Binnenbrücker, Founding Partner Capnamic Ventures

Sunhat offers a solution for answering sustainability questionnaires that automates the entire process from mapping questionnaires to collecting and verifying evidence of responses.

Sunhat offers SaaS solution

A key feature of Sunhat's software is its proprietary "Similarity Score," which compares responses already given with incoming sustainability requests. This enables the software to respond quickly to new requests from customers and other stakeholders. The resulting database is connected via an API to various third-party portals for checking sustainability criteria.

Sunhat was founded in 2022 by Lukas Vogt (CEO), Alexander Behr (COO) and Ali Kamalizade (CTO). The company is based in Cologne, Germany. The startup has seen a promising launch in the past year and has already been able to convince well-known large companies of its software solution. Among the company's customers is the hygiene paper manufacturer WEPA.