URECA, a Singapore-headquartered climate tech company, has announced on Tuesday the close of its pre-seed fundraising round at $1.5 million, exceeding the company’s original target to raise $1 million.

This funding will be used to scale URECA’s operations across Southeast Asia and to accelerate the launch of its unique marketplace that enables people to invest directly into climate solutions, planned for early 2023, URECA said in a statement.

Moving forward, URECA plans to expand the reach of the technology into other high-quality carbon offset projects. The company is already working on energy efficiency programs and is exploring moving into nature-based solutions.

URECA will use a combination of technology and fieldwork to ensure that the verified credits listed on its marketplace are of high quality and meet the most stringent requirements.

“We are humbled and grateful to have exceeded our targeted investment round and at the trust bestowed on us by our pre-seed investors. We believe that the level of funding we received from so many investors indicates strong confidence and interest in URECA’s business model and mission to empower and mobilize grassroots participation to take climate action on a more global scale,

“This pre-seed investment round positions us to be able to get more people involved in the fight against climate change and will enable us to become a leading climate tech player in the region,” said Orchlon Enkhtsetseg, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of URECA.

Originating from Mongolia, and with headquarters in Singapore, URECA is on a mission to empower and mobilize grassroots communities against climate change by providing a universally accessible platform for high-quality carbon offsets.

In addition to providing a marketplace for high-quality carbon offsets as investable assets, for the first time ever URECA’s digital measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) technology enables individual households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) transitioning to clean energy to produce and sell carbon offsets.

These can range from the homeowner with a rooftop solar panel to a company owning a large wind farm.

URECA’s proprietary digital MRV technology uses IoT engineering and machine learning to remotely verify carbon offsets which then can be traded on the company’s blockchain-powered marketplace to provide a transparent and accessible platform for verified, high-quality carbon credits.

“We believe that technologies such as URECA’s are crucial to enable individuals, households and SMEs to transition to cleaner energy sources. This pre-seed fundraising result puts the company on a fast track toward the launch of its carbon credit trading marketplace,

“We are delighted to be surrounded by a supportive community of investors and partners invested in creating a more sustainable world,” said Robert W. van Zwieten, member of URECA’s Advisory Board.

URECA introduces leading technology to democratise access to carbon credits