AI-startup Briink raises €3.85 million to help ESG teams verify and benchmark their sustainability data

Berlin, 30 September 2024 – Briink, a Berlin-based AI startup dedicated to empowering ESG and sustainability teams, today announced a €3.85 million Seed funding round. The round was co-led by EquityPitcher Ventures and 13books Capital, with participation from existing investors Merantix, seed + speed Ventures, and notable angel investors. The new funding marks a key milestone for Briink as it sets out to address a critical but often overlooked need: using AI to help sustainability professionals extract actionable insights from the mountain of data that will shape the future of our planet, while building consistent and verifiable audit trails.

Briink is building the world's first AI agents designed specifically for ESG teams, accelerating their workflows while ensuring the highest level of data accuracy and quality. The new funding will be used to develop these specialized AI tools further, helping to free up human experts to do the strategic, high-impact work that’s necessary for a successful climate transition.

New regulations like the European Green Deal are forcing companies to be more transparent, with far stricter demands for quality data on their environmental impact. ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) teams are on the front lines of this effort, working to collect, verify, and audit a staggering amount of information. Starting in Jan 2025 over 50,000 EU companies will be phased into a requirement to provide assurance that they, and their supply chains, are compliant. It’s a job that’s getting harder by the day, as requirements pile up and traditional methods of data processing and verification just can't keep up. 

This is where Briink steps in. With over 40 enterprise clients, including some of the world's largest corporations, funds, and advisory firms, Briink accelerates the benchmarking and verification process for ESG data by using domain-specific AI and LLMs, ensuring it is accurate, comprehensive, and aligned with regulatory standards. Think of Briink as an AI-powered assistant for the sustainability teams that are shaping the future. The result is not just faster workflows but better data - that is, ESG data that is accurate, consistent, comparable and less prone to misrepresentations and biases - which is essential for informed decision-making and driving real change toward sustainability.

“ESG professionals face a critical challenge: auditing and verifying vast amounts of data in a landscape still plagued by opacity and greenwashing," said Tomas van der Heijden, co-founder and CEO of Briink. "High-quality, audited ESG data is essential to the climate transition, but manual processes and fragmented standards often compromise accuracy. In a field where precision is key to maintaining trust, Briink's domain-specific AI achieves over 90% accuracy on ESG data—far exceeding generic solutions like ChatGPT. This ensures reliable insights, helping organizations combat greenwashing while accelerating progress toward true sustainability."

Spencer Lake, Partner at 13books Capital, said: “As we transition to a more sustainable future, there is no question that we need constructively creative AI platforms like Briink, to create tangible impact. For funds, corporates and their supply chains, Briink is the go-to solution providing transparency and ensuring they remain compliant with the onslaught of ESG regulations. We’re very pleased to join Sam, Tomas and the team as they continue to drive meaningful impact on this mission-critical journey”.

About Briink:
Briink develops cutting-edge AI solutions to support ESG and sustainability teams in managing the growing demands of regulatory compliance. By leveraging domain-specific AI and LLMs, Briink provides tools for automating the audit and verification of ESG data, ensuring transparency and quality. Based at the AI Campus in Berlin, Briink is committed to enabling ESG professionals with the technology they need to drive the global transition to net-zero.

For media inquiries please contact press@briink.com.

In the photo, from left to right: Samuel King, CTO & Co-founder, and Tomas van der Heijden, CEO & Co-founder. All the credits go to Tim Steppich.