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Venture arm of fuel card company WEX joins Ansa-led round

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Series A raises $13 mln; Ansa executive to join board

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Comes as more countries seek emissions disclosures

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - U.S. carbon accounting firm

Gravity said it has won backing from Ansa Capital and the

venture arm of fuel card company WEX in a $13 million

funding round as it looks to help energy-intensive companies

track and reduce their emissions.

Countries across the world are increasingly asking companies

to disclose their carbon emissions as part of efforts to curtail

global warming and more boards are looking to make energy

efficiency savings.

While various start-ups have sought to capture this demand,

many require manual data entry that can be time consuming and

costly, whereas Gravity is automated, Chief Executive and

co-founder Saleh ElHattab said.

"Ultimately, behind every ton of emissions is a cost -

whether it's energy spend, logistics investments, or purchased

goods and services," ElHattab said in a statement.

"Gravity taps into the fact that these cost centers are

already well-tracked and can be measured automatically, while

connecting the task of reporting back to every company's core

financial priorities of cost and risk mitigation."

New investors Communitas Capital and Buoyant Ventures joined

in the Ansa-led Series A round with WEX Venture Capital.

Existing investors Eclipse, Hanover, and Caffeinated Capital

also took part.

The money will be used to expand Gravity's research and

development efforts, as well as hire staff in the United States

and European Union, it added.

"We believe Gravity will be instrumental in helping the

largest emitters move beyond emissions calculation to actively

managing their energy costs...on one convenient platform," said

Ansa Co-Founder Marco DeMeireles, who will join Gravity's board.