Sesame Sustainability

What Sesame Sustainability does

Sesame Sustainability is a Cambridge, MA-based SaaS company that provides an industrial decarbonization platform for modeling, optimization, and analysis of industrial energy systems. Founded in 2023 as a spinout from the MIT Energy Initiative, the company licenses the SESAME (Sustainable Energy Systems Analysis and Modeling Environment) IP, which was developed over six years by 30+ researchers with $7M+ in research funding and produced 20+ peer-reviewed publications. The platform applies first-principles process modeling rather than emission factors or industry averages, generating levelized cost and product carbon intensity outputs across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, with full DCF detail and sensitivity analysis.

The core product suite includes the Sesame Platform (covering Costs & Carbon Intensity, Systems & Supply Chains, Optimize, and Emerging Technologies modules), Sesame One (a precision decarbonization tool launched in 2025), Meridian (a facility decarbonization solution that won ABB's 2026 Startup Challenge), and Sesame for Education (academic licensing that powers MIT's ENE.002x course). The platform integrates with Aspen Plus simulations, Excel models, and Ecoinvent lifecycle data, and includes 200+ built-in process nodes spanning hydrogen, ammonia, sustainable aviation fuel, iron & steel, oil & gas, and data centers. SOC 2 Type 2 certification was completed in 2025.

The business model is subscription-based annual licensing across three tiers: Professional (starting at $8,500/month, billed annually for individual contributors), Enterprise (custom pricing with SSO, custom models, and dedicated onboarding), and Academic (starting at $5,000/year). Go-to-market combines direct enterprise field sales targeting Fortune 500 industrial and energy companies (e.g., JERA Americas, Chevron), a self-service interactive demo for mid-market evaluation, and an academic licensing program. Named customers and collaborators include JERA Americas, Chevron, H2DI, EFI Foundation, and Newlab. The company raised a $2.4M seed round in June 2024 co-led by Flybridge and Powerhouse Ventures.

Name

Sesame Sustainability

Legal name

Sesame Sustainability Inc.

Website

https://sesamesustainability.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sesame Sustainability is a SaaS platform that provides first-principles process modeling, techno-economic analysis, and carbon intensity optimization for industrial decarbonization, serving heavy industry, energy companies, and data center operators across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Decarbonization Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (51321)

akta.pro primary industry

ESG/Sustainability Reporting & Disclosure Platforms (EUABAEAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Emissions Factors, LCA & Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) Platforms (EUABAEAD), Audit-Ready Controls, Assurance & Compliance Workflow Tools (CSRD/SEC/ISSB) (EUABAEAG), GHG Accounting & Net-Zero/Decarbonization Planning (Scopes 1–3) (EUAHAJAC), Nature & Biodiversity Reporting (TNFD, natural capital) (EUAHAJAM)

Keywords

• Industrial decarbonization software
• Techno-economic analysis
• Process modeling platform
• Carbon intensity analytics
• Energy transition planning

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Software Platform Licensing - Professional: Subscription-based annual licensing for individual contributors and focused projects. Full platform access including modeling, simulation, portfolio optimization, multi-scenario analysis, and global databases. Starting at $8,500/month billed annually.
2. Software Platform Licensing - Enterprise: Custom annual license for organization-wide deployment across sites and business units. Includes everything in Professional at organizational scale, plus integrations with enterprise systems, custom models, dedicated onboarding, support, and SSO.
3. Software Platform Licensing - Academic: Annual academic licensing starting at $5,000/year for universities. Full modeling library for research and classroom use, classroom-ready scenarios and datasets. Powers MITx course.
4. Custom Model Development: Enterprise tier includes custom models and custom development roadmap as part of annual license.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sesame Sustainability sells a B2B SaaS industrial decarbonization platform that combines first-principles process models of assets, fuels, and supply chains with global cost, emissions, and policy databases to deliver techno-economic analysis, levelized cost, and product carbon intensity outputs. It targets heavy-industry enterprises (energy, oil & gas, iron & steel, fuels, data centers) needing to evaluate hydrogen, electrification, carbon capture, and emerging technology pathways, with annual subscription tiers for Professional, Enterprise, and Academic users.

Product overview

Sesame Sustainability offers the Sesame industrial decarbonization platform, a unified software platform for techno-economic and carbon analysis of industrial energy systems. The core platform is called Sesame (with Sesame One as a precision-focused product launched in 2025), which provides first-principles process models, global cost/emissions databases, and optimization capabilities across assets, fuels, and supply chains. The platform includes modular capabilities for costs & carbon intensity, systems & supply chains, portfolio optimization, and emerging technologies analysis (carbon capture, energy carriers, storage). Educational offerings are branded separately under 'Sesame for Education.'

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sesame Platform An industrial decarbonization SaaS platform providing first-principles process models of assets, fuels, and supply chains with integrated levelized cost and carbon intensity analysis, emissions modeling, techno-economic analysis, and system optimization for heavy-industry decarbonization planning.
• Sesame One A precision decarbonization software product that helps industrial companies model and compare decarbonization pathways across their supply chains, integrating cost, emissions, and power system analysis in a single platform built on first-principles process models.
• Sesame for Education Academic licensing program providing the full Sesame modeling and simulation library, classroom-ready scenarios, and datasets to universities for teaching and research in energy systems and industrial decarbonization. Powers MIT's open online course ENE.002x 'Systems Thinking in Energy'.
• Meridian Facility decarbonization solution developed by Sesame Sustainability that addresses site-level electrification and decarbonization planning for industrial facilities; selected by ABB for the 2026 Startup Challenge in the Electrification Service category.

Quantifiable outcome

• CCS cuts direct emissions ~56% but product carbon intensity only improves when electricity supply and upstream flows are counted (steel BF-BOF example: 1.78 to 1.11 kgCO₂/kg steel)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• ABBflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 April 2026Won ABB's 2026 Startup Challenge with Meridian facility decarbonization solution. Receives $30,000 in collaboration funding to develop MVP with ABB over six months, with access to ABB's global network, labs, and customer ecosystem for pilot collaboration on Electrification Service challenge.
• EFI FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSesame supports the consortium led by EFI Foundation to accelerate commercial liftoff of clean hydrogen economy and support Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs). Sesame contributed to EFI Foundation's U.S. Hydrogen Infrastructure Action Plan report. Collaboration on carbon accounting case studies published on EFI Foundation website.
• National Petroleum CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSesame technology was used in 'Harnessing Hydrogen: A Key Element of the U.S. Energy Future' report - a comprehensive study conducted by the NPC at the request of the Secretary of Energy. This established Sesame's credibility at policy level.
• MIT Energy InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpinout from MIT Energy Initiative in 2023. Platform originated as SESAME research project at MITEI with 30+ researchers, $7M+ funding, and 20+ publications. Several former MITEI member companies are now Sesame customers.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Aspen Technology (Aspen Plus / Aspen HYSYS): Aspen Tech's process simulation suites (Aspen Plus, HYSYS) are the dominant first-principles engineering modeling tools for chemical, energy, and industrial process design. Sesame explicitly integrates with Aspen Plus simulations and competes for the same industrial technoeconomic analysis workflows at energy and chemicals customers.
• Sphera: Sphera provides enterprise software for operational risk, product stewardship, and LCA/carbon management across heavy industries. Sesame competes with Sphera's LCA and carbon modules when industrial buyers evaluate Scope 1–3 and product carbon footprint platforms.
• Watershed: Watershed is an enterprise carbon accounting and climate platform used by large corporates for Scope 1–3 reporting and decarbonization planning. It overlaps with Sesame's carbon intensity and reporting capabilities, though Sesame differentiates on industrial first-principles modeling depth.
• Persefoni: Persefoni offers a climate management and accounting platform for enterprises measuring and managing carbon footprints. It competes with Sesame on the carbon accounting and decarbonization planning layer, particularly for corporate buyers that also need industrial-grade modeling.
• Plan A: Plan A provides a SaaS platform for carbon accounting, ESG, and decarbonization planning for corporates. It overlaps with Sesame on emissions modeling and Scope 1–3 reporting, though Sesame focuses on industrial depth while Plan A serves a broader enterprise base.
• Emitwise: Emitwise offers a carbon management platform focused on product-level carbon footprints and Scope 3 measurement for manufacturers and industrial companies. Sesame's product carbon intensity module competes directly for product-level LCA workflows.

Broad incumbents

• Schneider Electric (Resource Advisor / EcoStruxure): Schneider Electric offers Resource Advisor and EcoStruxure for enterprise energy, sustainability, and emissions management across industrial sites. It is a much broader incumbent than Sesame, addressing overlapping decarbonization use cases as part of a wider portfolio.
• Microsoft Sustainability Cloud / Microsoft Fabric Sustainability: Microsoft's sustainability offerings (Cloud for Sustainability, Fabric ESG) provide enterprise-scale emissions data management integrated with the broader Microsoft cloud stack. As a hyperscaler incumbent, it competes for the data and reporting layer that Sesame covers alongside its industrial modeling.

Emerging players

• Sweep: Sweep is an ESG and carbon management platform helping businesses map, measure, and reduce their environmental impact. It is comparable to Sesame on emissions data management but is broader/less industrial in its modeling depth.
• HIF Global (and other industrial decarbonization modeling consultancies/tools): HIF Global and similar e-fuels/hydrogen project developers use internal techno-economic modeling for project siting and economics. Sesame's platform targets the same hydrogen, e-fuels, and CCUS project economics use cases that these project developers otherwise build internally.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sesame Sustainability