S3 Markets
Tackling scope 3 emissions by scaling up decarbonized commodities via a book and claim system
Location:
United States
Founded:
2022
Team Size:
2
Industry:
Climate, Marketplace, Sustainability
Founders:
Saman Baghestani, CEO
Michael Raynor, CPO
About:
S3 Markets provides revenue subsidies to low-carbon commodity producers in the highest emitting, hardest-to-abate sectors of the global economy (cement, steel, ammonia) so they can compete head on with incumbent commodity producers, displacing dirty, outdated modes of production.
Describe your startup. What is your startup's mission, and what problem are you solving and who are your customers?
S3 Markets provides revenue subsidies to low-carbon commodity producers in the highest emitting, hardest-to-abate sectors of the global economy (cement, steel, ammonia) so they can compete head on with incumbent commodity producers, displacing dirty, outdated modes of production.
Who are the founders, and what sparked the idea for this venture?
Saman Baghestani and Michael Raynor. Saman was exploring the climate finance problem while attending MIT Sloan's Climate and Energy Ventures course, and Michael was researching and writing about the problem of scope 3 (value-chain) emissions. The MIT Sustainability Summit brought the two together, and shortly after Saman founded S3 Markets in January 2024, Michael joined as co-founder in May 2024.
What makes your product or service unique in the market?
We unlock climate finance by making everyone a customer of everything. We tap in to corporates who do not directly purchase carbon-intensive materials but whose footprints contain emissions from those materials. In so doing, we are unlocking new sources of capital for critical climate solutions.
What milestones have you achieved so far if any, and where do you see your startup in the next 2-5 years?
We have secured over 100k metric tonnes of future environmental attributes. We are also working on a v2 of the registry which serves as the public ledger to promote transparency and trust in the instrument we're developing. In 2-5 years, a few things are true: 1) we have expanded our supply to over 100 high-quality low-carbon commodity producers yielding hundreds of megatons of carbon avoided, 2) over $1B in funds have been routed to low-carbon producers via transactions we've conducted, 3) the team has grown to 100+ unique, passionate individuals.
What defines your company culture, and what type of talent are you looking for?
Our company culture is based on transparent decision-making where everyone on the small team is a major contributor to big decisions. We are looking for self-starters who can take a lot of context and make decisions about how to spend their time. We celebrate and reward efficient outcomes. We are looking for people skilled at design-thinking, experienced in voluntary carbon markets, LCAs, EPDs, and business development experts.
Are you currently open to investments or partnerships?
Yes. Where there exist mutually beneficial partnerships, we are happy to explore. We are also raising a pre-seed round and are open to investments.
How can interested investors, partners, or potential employees get involved or learn more?
Contact us at samanb@s3markets.com, follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/s3-markets, check out our (under-construction) website https://s3markets.com.
What were the best and worst pieces of advice you received as a founder?
Some critically valuable and important advice is to talk with over a hundred prospective customers and to be mindful of the "Say" vs "Do" gap where humans are inclined to say nice things to your face about your product but may not actually mean what they say. A great book on how to navigate discovery conversations is The Mom Test. Bad advice is to wait until some future time to develop culture. Culture begins with the founders and is valuable even (and especially) among small teams that work very closely.