Carbon Counts

The main source of monetization revolves around in-app purchases, allowing players to enhance their gaming experience and progress. Furthermore, players can opt to advance within the game by engaging in ad-watching.

Hi Kelli. Carbon Counts does not own any of the land where we fund the planting of trees. Our tree planting right now is in Kenya and Rwanda. We've planted over 1M mangrove trees in Kenya on federal land owned and protected by the Kenya Forest Service. The trees in Rwanda are agroforestry trees that are given to local farmers who then plant them on their own land. In both cases, the tree planting is enabled by vetted, well-established local partners who are experts.

Appreciate the comment, Francis. While our P&L forecast for the next couple years is not dependent on carbon credits, we agree with you that there is likely meaningful opportunity for revenue upside with credits. There is a lot of growth expected in carbon credits, but some uncertainty exists currently, much of that caused by concern about whether protecting existing forests (which is a good idea) is actually doing something additional (in other words, if you say you are protecting a tree that was never going to be cut down anyway, you arguably haven't done anything of additional value). Tree planting doesn't have that problem as every new tree is demonstrably an additional source of carbon sequestration. That said, carbon credits based on reforestation are still relatively new and standards are still being sorted out. Bottom line: you are right that there is opportunity there and we intend to create additional value via carbon credits. Final point: Candy Crush, a freemium game, has had 5B downloads and makes $1B a year -- and they are not alone in mobile gaming in building a very big business (mobile gaming is a $100B industry, and nearly all free-to-play). So, I wouldn't be so quick to discount freemium concepts. Hope that helps!

Thanks, Totao — that is an interesting and complex topic. Currently, our business model does not involve converting our reforestation projects into carbon credits and we are not engaging in forward carbon credit sales. Our primary goal is to plant and protect trees for the good of the local communities and the environment as a whole. You make a fair point that this does happen and could be something that we elect to do in the future. If so, we will work directly with the Kenya Forest Service — and other relevant regulatory authorities in other countries — to ensure that our activities are compliant with expectations and deliver an appropriate revenue share to all stakeholders. Finally, the $7M long term liability relates to the equity investment that had been made in the company as of the end of 2022. We have subsequently raised an additional $1.5M.

Great question. We are planting different kinds of trees in different areas, but they are all native to the area in question. We've planted over a million mangroves (of different species) on the Kenya coast near Mombasa, replacing mangroves that had been previously degraded by people and natural forces. In other cases, we are currently planting a variety of tree species in agroforestry settings, where these trees are planted on farmers' land -- some that might generate agricultural income (like mangoes or other fruit/nut trees) and others that just help with soil health, water retention, and avoiding soil erosion. Over time, as we plant many millions (and hopefully billions) of trees, our focus is on regenerating whole forest ecosystems and not just "planting trees", so to speak.

Thanks, Scott, for your question! Like most investors in startups, the top couple ways that you would see a return are: a) Carbon Counts being acquired someday, or, b) Carbon Counts doing an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and making our shares publicly traded. Right now the IPO market is pretty soft (though this goes through cycles) and there continues to be significant acquisitions of gaming companies. We'll see what the future holds. In the near term, we are focused on building a hugely valuable and impactful company ... and we expect the market valuation (and thus investor return) question will sort itself out over time.

Hi Lea - thanks for your question! Just last week we launched in two more countries (Australia and New Zealand), so we're actually up to five countries now. As for revenue, you should think of Carbon Counts as pre-revenue. Even though we do have a small amount of revenue this year, we're very much in testing mode at the moment and will not be generating any significant revenue until 2024 when we intend to soft launch and then launch globally.

Thanks for the question, Varun. Mobile gaming is a highly competitive market, with a number of other casual games using merge or match-3 mechanics, and some with great success. That said, we believe EverForest operates in a rather unusual position -- combining a fun-first, casual merge game with climate action -- and doing so with global reach and impact. No game has seized a leadership position in this way and we intend to do so.