Pachama
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Pachama was a San Francisco climate-tech startup founded in 2018 by Diego Saez Gil. It used AI and satellite imagery to verify nature-based carbon credits from forest preservation and reforestation, selling them through a carbon-credit marketplace to more than 800 corporate customers including Salesforce, Microsoft, Airbnb and Netflix. It raised $88 million from investors including Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital and celebrity angels such as Ellen DeGeneres and Serena Williams.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Diego Saez Gil founded Pachama in 2018 to bring AI-and-satellite verification to nature-based carbon credits.
- Series C
Pachama raised $55 million in May 2022 led by Future Positive, bringing total funding to about $88 million.
- Layoffs
In summer 2025 Pachama laid off around 20 employees as voluntary carbon markets softened; Saez Gil blamed the uncertain climate and the anti-ESG agenda in the US.
- Acquired by Carbon Direct
In November 2025 carbon management startup Carbon Direct acquired Pachama (terms undisclosed), gaining in-house nature-based credit expertise and verification technology amid consolidation in the voluntary carbon market.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
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Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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