[June 11, 2024] BOSTON, Mass. – Sesame Sustainability, a climate tech software startup building an industrial decarbonization platform, announced a $2.4M Seed round co-led by Flybridge and Powerhouse Ventures. Sesame Sustainability’s platform offers economic, environmental, and systems analysis capabilities to accurately evaluate industrial decarbonization solutions at scale. Its analyses are highly credible, use standardized methodologies across decarbonization pathways, and enable users to conduct iterative scenario analysis delivered through an intuitive UI/UX that is accessible to stakeholders at all levels of expertise.

The industrial sector accounts for 34% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While commercial and regulatory pressures mount, the leaders of industrial companies struggle to plan and enact deep decarbonization initiatives. Solutions that currently exist in the market are slow and don’t adequately address the considerable complexity related to industrial decarbonization technologies.

Sesame’s software suite simulates and optimizes the costs and emissions associated with decarbonization investments in heavy industry. Sesame’s technology combines plant-level information with curated databases and flexible first-principles models to capture all relevant technical, economic, and regulatory aspects necessary to vet emerging technologies (e.g. hydrogen, electrification, and carbon capture) and develop robust portfolio investment and operating strategies. Sesame enables rapid analysis and serves as a single source of truth across large enterprises and multi-scenario analyses.

“The Sesame Sustainability team is uniquely suited to build a scalable platform for techno-economic analysis and lifecycle analysis,” said Powerhouse Ventures Managing Partner Emily Kirsch. “These capabilities enable industrial companies to understand the economic and environmental implications of decarbonization opportunities, and to optimize their decarbonization strategies at scale.”

“Based on over seven years of applied research at MIT, Sesame brings a unique set of capabilities to the decarbonization space,” said Flybridge General Partner Chip Hazard. “Sesame’s expertly curated data and models are particularly well matched to help industrial companies make optimal decisions in their drive to decarbonize.”

Sesame Sustainability’s growing impact

• As part of its Design Partner Program, Sesame Sustainability is already working with global energy companies like JERA Americas to prioritize their decarbonization investments.

• Sesame Sustainability supports the consortium led by EFI Foundation (EFIF) to help accelerate commercial liftoff of the clean hydrogen economy and support the launch of the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs).

• Sesame technology has been used in Harnessing Hydrogen: A Key Element of the U.S. Energy Future report, a comprehensive study conducted by the National Petroleum Council (NPC) at the request of the Secretary of Energy.

• Sesame Sustainability contributed to EFI Foundation’s U.S. Hydrogen Infrastructure Action Plan report.

About Sesame Sustainability

Founded in 2023 by CEO Emre Gençer, Head of Engineering Jim Owens, and Head of Product Paul Sizaire, Sesame Sustainability was spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company is developing a comprehensive decarbonization platform that combines emissions modeling, techno-economic analysis, and system optimization.