Laura Zizzo has spent more than a decade advising large corporations and financial institutions on how climate change could hurt their business, and what they should do to stem the impact. But in the past couple years, her once-niche area of expertise has gone mainstream, and keeping up with the ever-growing demand for her services was becoming unmanageable. 

To solve the problem, Zizzo, CEO and co-founder of Manifest Climate—formerly Mantle314—has teamed up with entrepreneur and software developer Jeremy Greven to build a technology platform to help clients identify and manage how climate change is impacting their business. 

The tool is attracting interest from investors. On Wednesday, the Toronto-based company announced a $6.5-million seed financing round from funders including OMERS Ventures, Golden Ventures and Klass Capital. It marks the first private investment for the six-year-old firm, and the beginning of what it hopes will be a major expansion.