Zero Circle
Zero Circle is an AI-powered energy finance platform matching verified energy projects with institutional capital across 15 countries via Climate Exchange, EnergyROI analytics, Impact Circle, and Foundry advisory products.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2022
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Zero Circle does
Zero Circle is a private energy finance infrastructure platform headquartered in New York City that uses AI to match verified energy projects with institutional capital. Founded in 2022, the company operates four core products: Climate Exchange, a marketplace matching 200+ verified projects with 500+ capital partners across 15 countries; EnergyROI, an analytics engine providing ML-driven risk scoring, portfolio clustering, AI fingerprinting, and geospatial intelligence benchmarked against 6,200+ solar plants; Impact Circle, a white-labeled climate-action platform enabling enterprise networks to measure footprints and transact in carbon credits, ITCs, and ETS allowances; and Foundry, an advisory and capital-structuring capability that includes the Pathfinder AI outreach engine for investor engagement. Underlying technology combines a 40,000+ investor profile database, 40+ criterion project fundability scoring, 13-factor composite risk models, and an integrated data fabric drawing from NREL, NOAA, EIA, and Berkeley LCOE.
The platform serves three primary customer segments — project owners seeking capital, capital partners (banks, credit funds, family offices, impact funds) seeking deal flow, and enterprises with energy/decarbonization commitments — plus platform partners who white-label Zero Circle products (e.g., EnergyShed's Quanta Analytics, Wasabi's Impact Circle). The business model blends milestone-based advisory fees, success fees at capital deployment, Pathfinder pilot/managed/commission engagements, tiered EnergyROI subscriptions (Free, $199/month Professional, $5K-$10K/month Intelligence coming Q2 2026), and white-label licensing revenue share. Distribution combines direct enterprise sales, OEM white-label partnerships, self-serve PLG entry points, and technical integrations with ERP/ESG platforms and registries.
The company is led by CEO and founder Hemanth Setty, with Shilpa Bangera (ex-Uber, Adyen) leading growth and Pramod Sridharamurthy leading operations; an advisory board includes former Schneider Electric SVP Kevin Self, retired FedEx CSO Mitch Jackson, and former White House/DOE official Kerry C Duggan. Disclosed funding totals $250K as of October 2024, with prior incubator participation at Tampa Bay Innovation Center (2023) and 1871 (2022); revenue is not publicly disclosed.
Zero Circle firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Zero Circle
- Legal name
- Zero Circle Inc.
- Website
- https://zerocircle.eco
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2022
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Zero Circle is an AI-powered energy finance platform matching verified energy projects with institutional capital across 15 countries via Climate Exchange, EnergyROI analytics, Impact Circle, and Foundry advisory products.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Zero Circle industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Energy Finance Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Climate Finance Strategy (CapEx planning, green finance, incentives & grants) (EUABAKAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Regulatory & Disclosure Strategy (CSRD/ESRS, ISSB/IFRS S2, SEC, TCFD) (EUABAKAH), Scope 1–3 GHG Inventory Strategy, Data Governance & Controls (advisory) (EUABAKAD), GHG Accounting & Net-Zero/Decarbonization Planning (Scopes 1–3) (EUAHAJAC)
Keywords
Where Zero Circle is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Zero Circle business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Advisory & Strategy Fees: Fixed fees for strategy engagements covering energy financing strategy, capital access, and project packaging. Milestone-based pricing tied to defined deliverables per phase.
- Success Fees at Capital Deployment: Success-based fees when capital actually deploys for projects. No long-term retainers with nothing to show.
- Pathfinder Outreach Engagement: Fixed setup fee for pilot engagements, monthly retainer plus success component for managed service, or setup fee plus commission on results for deal origination use cases.
- Platform Subscriptions: EnergyROI/Quanta Analytics tiered subscriptions: Free (1 project), Professional at $199/month, Intelligence at $5K-$10K/month
- White-Label Licensing: Revenue share arrangements for white-label partnerships embedding Zero Circle products under partner brands (Impact Circle, EnergyROI, Provenance, Climate Exchange)
- Marketplace Partnership: Integration partnerships with platforms and networks generating revenue through shared commercial arrangements
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free Trial - 1 project, no credit card required |
| Subscription | Monthly | Professional - $199/month for unlimited projects |
| Subscription | Monthly | Intelligence - $5K-$10K/month for portfolio analytics |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Matching Report - AI-powered investor fit analysis |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Pathfinder Pilot - 4-6 week outreach engagement |
| Subscription | Monthly | Pathfinder Managed - Full monthly outreach operation |
| Outcome Based/ Performance | Multi-year contract | Foundry Advisory - Custom strategy engagement |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Marketplace Partnership - Platform integration |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Zero Circle product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Zero Circle is an AI-powered energy finance infrastructure platform that connects verified energy project developers with institutional capital partners through its Climate Exchange marketplace, while providing analytics (EnergyROI), white-labeled climate action tooling (Impact Circle), and capital structuring advisory (Foundry). The platform scores projects against 40+ capital criteria, matches them to a database of 40,000+ investor profiles, automates outreach workflows, and supports end-to-end engagement from strategy through capital deployment across 15 countries.
Product overview
Zero Circle operates as an energy finance infrastructure platform with four core products: Climate Exchange (marketplace for project-to-capital matching), EnergyROI (analytics and intelligence engine available via EnergyShed as Quanta Analytics), Impact Circle (white-labeled climate action platform for enterprise networks), and Foundry (advisory and capital structuring with outreach automation via Pathfinder). The platform serves project owners, capital partners, and enterprises across 15 countries, combining AI-powered matching, analytics, and full-stack operations to compress deal timelines from quarters to weeks.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Climate Exchange: Platform for browsing and investing in verified energy projects, connecting project owners with institutional capital partners
- EnergyROI
- Impact Circle
- Foundry
- Pathfinder
- Capital Compass
- Provenance
- Circulate
Products and services
- Climate Exchange Marketplace platform that matches verified energy projects to institutional capital, with project qualification, automated underwriting across 40+ capital criteria, standardized due diligence data packages, and direct connections between developers and capital partners (banks, credit funds, institutional investors, family offices, impact funds). Includes Project Fundability Scoring and live deal discovery on a base of 40,000+ investor profiles with continuous mandate alignment scoring.
- EnergyROI Analytics platform providing finance-grade energy intelligence for solar and storage asset operators, developers, lenders, and asset managers. Combines ML-driven portfolio clustering, AI fingerprinting for asset-level performance attribution, a 13-factor composite risk scoring engine, geospatial intelligence integrating NREL PVWatts, NOAA weather, EIA infrastructure, and Berkeley LCOE data, and generation benchmarking against a database of 6,200+ solar plants with 99.2% validated accuracy.
- Impact Circle White-labeled climate action infrastructure for enterprise networks (including cloud storage providers and industrial customers) to measure carbon footprints, purchase and retire carbon credits, ITCs, ETS allowances, and mitigation credits, and generate compliance-grade reports. Includes full-stack operations backoffice for sourcing, registry retirement, certificate generation, financial settlement (via Stripe), and multi-currency support.
- Foundry Advisory and capital structuring service for energy finance engagements, covering strategy development, capital structure design, investor mandate matching, blended finance structuring, Climate Exchange listing, and post-close capital management. Includes the Pathfinder outreach automation engine for warm-path targeting and personalized outreach workflows with human-in-the-loop approval. Delivered with milestone-based pricing tied to defined deliverables, with an 11-week average time from engagement to first term sheet.
Quantifiable outcome
- 4.2 month average capital close time vs. 18-month traditional fundraising cycles
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Zero Circle
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Zero Circle technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability6 records
Feature6 records
Zero Circle partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
16 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Wasabi TechnologiescoreZero Circle powers Wasabi Impact Circle, a sustainability initiative enabling enterprise customers to measure and address carbon emissions from cloud storage usage. Platform enables storage-related carbon footprint tracking and purchase of carbon credits from verified climate projects. Build on existing partnership and invoice-based carbon footprint calculator.
- EnergyShedcoreEnergyShed white-labels Zero Circle's EnergyROI as Quanta Analytics — available to developers, lenders, and asset managers. Same core analytics engine powering Zero Circle's climate finance platform, distributed through EnergyShed's platform.
- NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)supportingEnergyROI integrates NREL data including PVWatts for PV potential mapping at zip code and block group level, supporting site selection and generation benchmarking.
- NOAAsupportingEnergyROI integrates NOAA weather data for historical overlays and 14-day weather forecast overlays in geospatial intelligence features.
- EIA (Energy Information Administration)supportingEnergyROI integrates EIA data alongside NREL and Berkeley LCOE for integrated data fabric across solar generation, weather, grid infrastructure, and location intelligence.
- Berkeley LCOEsupportingEnergyROI integrates Berkeley LCOE data for levelized cost of energy calculations and benchmarking across 20+ data sources.
- StripesupportingStripe handles payment processing for Impact Circle transactions with multi-currency support. Zero Circle manages full operations backoffice behind portfolio transactions.
- GooglesupportingUsers can create accounts and log in using Google authentication through third-party social media services integration.
- LinkedInsupportingUsers can create accounts and log in using LinkedIn authentication. Pathfinder also uses LinkedIn for contact research and warm-path connection discovery.
- FacebooksupportingUsers can create accounts and log in using Facebook authentication through third-party social media services integration.
- InstagramsupportingUsers can create accounts and log in using Instagram authentication through third-party social media services integration.
- TwittersupportingUsers can create accounts and log in using Twitter authentication through third-party social media services integration.
- Google AnalyticssupportingGoogle Analytics tracks and reports website traffic and user behavior on the Zero Circle platform.
- HubSpotsupportingHubSpot handles email marketing including newsletters, marketing materials, and promotional campaigns.
- TwiliosupportingTwilio supports email and telephone communication with customers through the service.
- ApollosupportingPathfinder uses Apollo as one of multiple data sources for company and contact research, cross-referenced with LinkedIn, company sites, industry databases, and CRM.
Scale indicators16 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Zero Circle competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Watershed: Enterprise climate platform for carbon accounting, reporting, and reduction. Comparable as an AI-driven climate SaaS serving enterprises and capital partners with structured data, similar to Zero Circle's Provenance and Impact Circle offerings.
- Persefoni: Carbon accounting and climate management platform for enterprises and financial institutions. Directly comparable in scope 1-3 accounting, decarbonization planning, and serving finance teams — overlapping with Zero Circle's Provenance and enterprise workflows.
- Patch: Carbon credit marketplace and API for embedding offsetting into apps. Comparable to Zero Circle's Impact Circle transaction layer and Climate Exchange marketplace mechanics for verified credits.
- Rubicon Carbon: Carbon credit developer and advisory firm focused on high-quality removal credits and portfolio management. Comparable as a climate finance intermediary linking project developers to institutional buyers.
Broad incumbents
- South Pole: Established climate solutions provider offering carbon advisory, project development, and credit origination across global markets. Comparable as a broader incumbent in climate finance advisory and project sourcing for enterprises and capital partners.
- Generate Capital: Large-scale infrastructure financier for sustainable projects including solar, storage, and clean energy. Comparable as an institutional capital provider in clean infrastructure financing overlapping with Zero Circle's Capital Partners segment.
- BloombergNEF: Energy research and analytics provider covering capital flows, project finance, and clean energy markets. Comparable as a broad incumbent delivering intelligence and benchmarking to capital partners, intersecting with Zero Circle's EnergyROI positioning.
Emerging players
- Cloverly: Climate action API platform for carbon credits and sustainability programs. Comparable as an emerging SaaS in carbon credit transactions and enterprise climate infrastructure, narrower scope than Zero Circle but overlapping transaction rails.
- Pachama: Forest carbon credit marketplace using satellite and AI verification. Comparable as a tech-enabled carbon marketplace with verification, narrower project types but adjacent to Climate Exchange.
- Nexus PMG: Climate infrastructure advisory and project management for renewables and clean energy portfolios. Comparable as a specialized advisory and project management firm serving climate infrastructure capital deployment.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Zero Circle social profiles
Digital presenceZero Circle financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Zero Circle leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Zero Circle funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Zero Circle M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Zero Circle
What does Zero Circle do?
Zero Circle is an AI-powered energy finance infrastructure platform that connects verified energy project developers with institutional capital partners through its Climate Exchange marketplace, while providing analytics (EnergyROI), white-labeled climate action tooling (Impact Circle), and capital structuring advisory (Foundry). The platform scores projects against 40+ capital criteria, matches them to a database of 40,000+ investor profiles, automates outreach workflows, and supports end-to-end engagement from strategy through capital deployment across 15 countries.
Is Zero Circle a public or private company?
Zero Circle is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Zero Circle founded?
Zero Circle was founded in 2022. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Zero Circle based?
Zero Circle is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Zero Circle make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Advisory & Strategy Fees are the primary driver. The others are success Fees at Capital Deployment, pathfinder Outreach Engagement, platform Subscriptions, white-Label Licensing and marketplace Partnership.
Who are Zero Circle's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Watershed, Persefoni, Patch and Rubicon Carbon. Broad incumbents are South Pole, Generate Capital and BloombergNEF. Emerging players are Cloverly, Pachama and Nexus PMG.
Does Zero Circle have an API?
No public API is recorded for Zero Circle.
What industry is Zero Circle in?
Zero Circle's product category is Energy Finance Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUABAKAG, Climate Finance Strategy (CapEx planning, green finance, incentives & grants), with a secondary code of EUABAKAH, Regulatory & Disclosure Strategy (CSRD/ESRS, ISSB/IFRS S2, SEC, TCFD). Its NAICS code is 54169 and its SIC code is 7372.