Carbon removal marketplace Nori announced today that it has raised $6.25 million, and appointed exchange veteran Matt Trudeau as its new CEO.

The company said that the announcement comes as it prepares to scale its marketplace to support its largest-ever sale of carbon removal credits through its collaboration with Bayer, announced last year, and as it looks to expand the carbon removal product offerings on its marketplace.

Demand for carbon offset projects that counteract the release of greenhouse gases, and related credits, is expected to increase significantly over the next several years, as companies and businesses increasingly launch net zero ambitions, and turn to offsets as a bridge to their own absolute emissions reduction efforts, or to balance difficult to avoid emissions.

The market for carbon credits, however, is challenged by problems including a lack of liquidity, and insufficient or inconsistent data to assess the effectiveness of the projects.

Founded in 2017, Seattle-based Nori aims to help scale the carbon removal industry and help address climate change through the creation of a large-scale carbon market. The company has set a goal to develop market-driven solutions to remove 1.5 trillion metric tonnes of legacy carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Trudeau joins Nori after serving as Managing Partner at 10x Markets, a strategic consulting and advisory for startups and businesses focused on electronic trading, fintech, capital markets, cryptocurrencies, crypto assets, and blockchain technologies. He has led or assisted in 12 market launches, with expertise in areas spanning regulated financial markets, market structure, trading technology and blockchain. The company’s founding CEO, Paul Gambill will stay on as Chief Product Officer and remain on the board.

Trudeau said:

“Under Paul’s leadership, Nori has established an exceptional team, brand, technology platform, innovative products, and strategic commercial relationships. The opportunities to advance the carbon market align strongly with my experience building financial and commodities markets. We will leverage Nori’s solid foundation to continue to drive innovation, expand our marketplace, and become the leading provider of solutions for carbon removal suppliers and buyers.”

The funding round was led by existing investors, M13, Toyota Ventures, Placeholder, and Cargill. With the completion of the new round, Nori has raised over $17 million.

Jim Adler, founder and general partner at Toyota Ventures, said:

“We are excited to support Nori’s next phase of growth with this latest financing. Nori is addressing a key challenge for the industry and society by offering a transparent marketplace for carbon removal. To reach Paul’s vision of carbon removal at a planetary scale, many challenges remain. Under Matt’s leadership, we look forward to seeing the team expand Nori’s offerings and grow its marketplace volume to achieve its founding mission.”

Gambill added:

“With Matt at the helm, we are excited to commercially scale our carbon removal credits with the Bayer Carbon Program collaboration and to make step-change-level improvements in the amount of CO2 being removed from the atmosphere.”