CHOOOSE visiting Sir Richard Branson

Richard Branson about Norwegian climate-startup:

We are hunting for people and ideas that can literally change the world. CHOOOSE is doing a really important job!

This weekend, the award-winning, Norwegian climate startup CHOOOSE visited Sir Richard Branson on his private island to present at Extreme Tech Challenge.

Necker Island, October 22, 2018 - The Norwegian climate company CHOOOSE has shot in record speed since its launch in 2016. It all started at a bar, where five friends in full-time jobs began to feel the urge of finding a solution for climate change. Many people want to contribute, but don’t know how. They decided to start a company aiming to save the world from CO2 pollution, and make it easy, fun and affordable for people and businesses to contribute to the fight against climate change - and most importantly: with great impact.

Now, Sir Richard Branson has got his eyes on CHOOOSE. The Norwegian startup company was awarded the Nordics’ best start-up by Extreme Tech Challenge in Las Vegas January this year, and the prize was a trip to Branson's private island to present further plans for CHOOOSE.

"The purpose of Extreme Tech Challenge is to hunt for people and ideas that can literally change the world. CHOOOSE is doing is a really important job”, says Sir Richard Branson.

Extreme Tech Challenge

“An easy and engaging way to combat climate change”

The past week, two of the founders, Andreas Slettvoll and Karl-Axel Bauer, visited Branson on Necker Island, and CHOOOSE got the opportunity to have a private meeting with the entrepreneur behind the Virgin Group Empire. CHOOOSE is the only Nordic company that has ever been invited to the island by Extreme Tech Challenge, and the first guests who visited Necker Island after the recovery of Hurricane Irma last fall.

"The team at CHOOOSE have created a simple way to drive much needed active engagement at scale. They combine 'awareness with action' in a low friction way that leverages known carbon marketplace functions for a positive outcome. The addition of blockchain can help automate and scale their promise”, says Bill Tai, Venture Capitalist at ACTAI Global and CEO of Extreme Tech Challenge.

Karl Axel Bauer and Andreas Slettvoll at Necker Island

Future support from Sir Richard Branson

The fact that CHOOOSE, the only European company, is invited by Sir Richard Branson, says something about the relevance and global blast of the company's commitment to simple and effective climate change.

"It's so fun to see that a young Norwegian company like CHOOOSE creates so much commitment and interest among some of the world's leading technologists, entrepreneurs and mind leaders," says Andreas Slettvoll enthusiastically, sharing the idea that the biggest global problem also needs global solutions.

Andreas Slettvoll recently named the Founder of the Year at the Nordic Start-Up Awards, presented the company's strategy to make high-quality climate action engaging, change incentives and provide full transparency through blockchain technology. Slettvoll also had a long private conversation with Sir Richard Branson about the company's future during the stay. Branson showed a genuine commitment and wanted to help CHOOOSE with further acceleration. The first step for Branson is to put CHOOOSE in contact with important door openers for an international launch.

Andreas Slettvoll and Sir Richard Branson

CHOOOSE’s business idea is to buy as many climate credits as possible and then tear them apart so that no one can ever use these to pollute. For the price of a cup of cappuccino per month, CHOOOSE reduces more than the environmental impact customers leave behind, thus making them climate-positive. Each carbon credit is equivalent to a reduction of 1 ton of CO2 emissions and is purchased directly from green and sustainable projects in developing countries. This reduces both global CO2 emissions and finances wind farms, solar plants and other projects that replace coal and oil. All are approved by the UN, and credits form a key part of these projects' funding.

Since its inception in 2016, the company has stopped nearly 100,000 tonnes of global CO2 emissions, gained customers and media coverage in over 25 countries, working with large companies like Santander, Get and Red Bull, and initiated cooperation with the UN climate panel.

About Extreme Tech Challenge:

The world's largest startup competition for tech companies.

The purpose of Extreme Tech Challenge is to find people and ideas that can actually help change the world into a better place.

The semi-finals were held in Las Vegas in January 2018, and four finalists were invited to Necker Island.

Sir Richard Branson and Bill Tai are the CO-founders and hosts of Extreme Tech Challenge.