This week, Borderless Capital, a Miami-based venture capital firm that invests solely in projects based on the carbon-negative Algorand blockchain ecosystem, announced that it has successfully closed its $10 million PLANETS Fund, a fund focused around invests in the “green data economy.” Specifically, the fund will invest in the tech ecosystem around PlanetWatch, billed as the world’s first decentralized indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring network built on the Algorand blockchain.
PlanetWatch compiles its data from a community of air quality sensor hosts, called “PlanetWatchers,” who are compensated for streaming air quality data with PLANETS tokens. The new capital will be used to deploy thousands of PlanetWatch air quality sensors globally. The fund will also hold a long-term position in PLANETS tokens and equity.
According to a statement from tne company, Borderless Capital is anchoring the PLANETS.Fund with a $1 million investment, joined by a roster of investment firms, including SkyBridge, JUMP Capital, Kenetic Capital, Algorand Inc, Meld Ventures and Youbi Capital. Individual investors including GoldenTree partners Robert Matza, Steven Tannenbaum, Joseph Naggar and Deeb Salem, Extend.com CEO Woodrow Levin, Benvolio Group‘s Sam Frankfort, Algorand CEO Steve Kokinos, Cere Founder and Hyperedge Capital Managing Partner Kenzi Wang, and BitPay Co-Founder Sonny Singh also signed on to the fund.
“We acknowledge that air pollution is one of the world’s most serious public health threats, with 9 out of 10 people worldwide living in places where pollutants exceed the guideline limits of the World Health Organization,” said Borderless Capital CEO and Managing Partner David Garcia. “This is why the PLANETS.Fund was established to accelerate the development of responsible air quality monitoring on Algorand, the market’s only carbon-negative blockchain, which will help us mitigate the problem with reliable data and at the same time create value for our investors, for the PlanetWatch network and primarily for the planet Earth.”
PlanetWatch was founded in 2020 as a spinoff of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The data collected by PlanetWatch air sensors is transcribed onto Algorand, creating an immutable air quality repository. The PlanetWatchers network currently has over 20,000 air sensors spread across the globe, with the number rapidly increasing. PlanetWatch went live on Algorand MainNet in August 2020.
“We are humbled and grateful to PLANETS.Fund investors for subscribing to our disruptive new vision for global environmental monitoring, where the engagement of ordinary people is instrumental for network deployment and maintenance,” PlanetWatch CEO Claudio Parrinello said. With PlanetWatch, people are making their own city smart. We are currently building the largest air quality monitoring network in the world, so Fund resources will be instrumental for speeding up global deployment and engagement.
