Root Sustainability is Bringing AI-Powered, Audit-Ready Sustainability Data to Europe’s Retail Brands

Root Sustainability, empowering retailers to instantly turn complex product data into simple, actionable life cycle assessments, led by Gijs de Mol and Maud Schijen, has secured a €1,000,000 seed round led by Borski Fund, with participation from VC investor Rockstart and angel investors Spotlight and Empower Impact, along with additional private investors.

Root provides an AI-powered data foundation that helps retail brands turn fragmented value-chain data into auditable sustainability insights. Used by brands like HEMA, O’Neill, and Holland & Barrett, the platform enables product carbon footprints, reduction scenarios, and compliance with EU regulations such as Digital Product Passports, CSRD, and VSME.

The funding will accelerate Root’s European expansion and enhance its AI for data optimisation and decarbonisation, positioning it as the leading sustainability data platform for retail.

“This investment helps us scale Root across Europe and replace slow, consultant-led carbon accounting with an AI platform that turns fragmented data into auditable sustainability insights in minutes,” said Maud Schijen, co-founder of Root.

Borski Fund’s Anieke Lamers added that Root solves a critical problem for retailers by making sustainability data accurate, actionable, and decision-ready, giving brands like HEMA the data backbone they need to meet new regulations and consumer expectations.