My Green Lab, a nonprofit that seeks to define and certify sustainability standards, has launched a commercial subsidiary, Impact Laboratories Inc., for which it has closed a financing round of $1.35 million, says Spokane-based CEO James Connelly.
Financing for Impact Laboratories came from members of the Spokane Angel Alliance and the Spokane-based Kick-Start Seed Fund. The organization, which hopes to raise a total of $2.5 million, has previously received funding from Ignite Northwest also, Connelly says.
“We have raised $1.35 million, and we have a great line of sight on finishing out the rest of the rounds in the next few months,” he says.
Creating a commercial subsidiary also allows for capital to be raised quickly to be invested into software infrastructure, marketing and sales, and the delivery of programs, Connelly adds.
My Green Lab was launched in San Diego in 2013 and focuses on addressing sustainability in science. Since forming, the nonprofit has certified over 2,600 labs in 45 countries. The organization’s flagship program is the My Green Lab Certification, which provides scientists and teams with actionable methods and best practices to implement a sustainable laboratory.
Other programs and services offered through My Green Lab include the Accountability, Consistency, & Transparency Environmental Impact Factor Label for laboratory products and a Freezer Challenge, in partnership with the International Institute for Sustainable Labs to reduce energy use in cold storage. The organization has 22 employees who work remotely. Over the last four years, Connelly, a Spokane native, has pushed efforts to grow the organization in Washington state and in Spokane, specifically.
To enhance its flagship program, My Green Lab has launched Impact Laboratories, which will provide third-party verification and accelerate progress toward building a global culture of sustainability in science, Connelly says.
“It’s important to separate the organization that sets the standard from the organization that actually conducts the audits and issues the certificates,” Connelly says. “By launching Impact Laboratories as a subsidiary organization, we can offer third-party certification, which is the gold standard in sustainability certification.”
With the new and anticipated funding, Connelly says he projects annual revenue to grow to $38 million by 2027, from just under $2 million.
With such growth, Impact Laboratories expects to grow its staff to over 50 people globally with a focus in hiring in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area, Connelly says.
“The exciting part of the capital raise is it will allow us to scale up quickly,” Connelly says. “There’s a fantastic growing tech ecosystem in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene region, and we’re excited to be a part of it.”
