Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Julie Lindenberg, Chief Executive Officer for Asia Pacific at Cogo:
Q: Julie, what is Cogo?
A: Cogo is a carbon footprint management product that helps individuals and businesses to measure, understand and reduce their impact on the climate. Cogo does this through partnerships with some of the world’s largest banks to integrate leading carbon-tracking functionality into their banking apps.
Q: Any highlights on your recent announcement?
A: We recently announced that we will exhibit at the very first ‘City-Tech.Tokyo’ innovation event from 27 to 28 February in Tokyo, Japan. Showcasing 300 sustainably-minded startups, the event is expected to draw 10,000 participants from 100 cities across 30 countries in a bid to “realise a sustainable society” and “create opportunities for tangible collaboration” which the event’s executive committee – including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) and The Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry – expects to “lead to a new urban vision based on diverse ideas and technologies”.
We’re very excited to support this event and share the planet-changing potential of our technology with the Japanese business community. It’s time to change how our money works, and Cogo is proud to be enabling this change. Our participation comes off the back of rapid expansion into Asia, including establishing offices in Japan and partnerships with Asian FinTech innovators Moneythor and Moneytree. Cogo has is also piloting a carbon footprint calculator with some of OCBC Bank’s customers (Singapore).
Recommended: Flowful Keeps People Focused With AI Generated Ambient Music
Q: Can you give us more insights into your offering?
A: Cogo’s Personal and Business Carbon Manager solutions enrich transactional data – such as spend on electricity and fuel – and assigns a carbon emissions to each transaction. Cogo can then calculate a carbon footprint for the individual or business. In addition, customers can also access tailored advice around the actions they can take to make easy, positive changes to help lower their carbon footprint. For businesses, the optimised end to end solution also enables customers to share their progress which can help them retain and attract customers, having a positive impact on the business’ bottom line.
Q: What can we expect from your company in next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: Cogo currently works with 12 banks, with plans to double this in the next twelve months. Founded in 2016, Cogo now employs over 100 people, operates in 12 countries across Europe and Australasia (including the UK, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Singapore) and is on track to be assisting 30 million customers around the world measure their carbon footprint. Cogo has raised over US$12.5million in funding since launch, and will look to align itself with further investors in future.
Recommended: An Interview With Mark Weathers, Senior Vice President Operations At Energy Internet Corporation
Q: What is the best thing about your company that people might not know about?
A: Cogo employs people who are passionate about leaving a better world behind. Out technology is more than just a product; it’s a personal, legacy creating mission all of us are on to change the world for the better – together with our customers.
