A Startup for the Planet

After attending a French high school in Milan and later graduating from Bocconi University, Maria Eugenia Filmanovic was convinced she would work abroad in Public Administration. But it didn’t work out that way. Today she is co-founder of Abatable, a platform that helps companies buy carbon credits to offset their carbon emissions. A start–up for the planet, which recently became a BCorp.

She says: “After graduating from Bocconi, I found myself in Oxford, an incredible experience of campus life and teaching English: lots of writing and group work. It was there that I learned time management and found my focus, what I really wanted to do: impact investing.”

Once she finished her studies, however, finding the ideal job was not easy. While she was searching, Filmanovic got a call from Goldman Sachs and accepted. After three years at the investment bank, the right opportunity came along: she was transferred to San Francisco and joined Goldman’s fledgling impact investing team. “It was almost like working in a start-up,” Filmanovic explains. “To give you an idea of the environment, there were about fifteen of us with very different backgrounds: some had worked in the nonprofit sector, others were creative. We had our ideas on sustainable development, and we found ourselves working in this traditional finance office with 80s-style furniture. Talk about fish out of water!” But the combination worked, and in five years’ time, Filmanovic’s career had taken off. She became vice president of the ESG and Impact Investing team, which was called AIMS Imprint. Working in the field, she discovered carbon offsetting and the business world’s need to invest in reducing and offsetting their emissions. 

A niche market, but one with great potential. “I realized that there was room to create a business that also had social value. So in 2021, with a colleague who is also a Bocconi grad, Valerio Magliulo, we founded our start-up,” she adds. Together they then applied to the famous American startup accelerator, Y Combinator, also known as the Harvard of start–ups. “It was a crazy experience. We were immersed in this bubble of IT nerds and incredible entrepreneurs. You’d find the CEOs of Stripe and Airbnb in a zoom call telling you their vision.” 

But as a woman, she says that she sometimes felt left out. “Let’s just say it’s a very masculine world. They’re all tech bros and they talk to each other a lot. The fact that I wasn’t a techie or an engineer didn’t help matters, but I was lucky to have a partner who came from that sphere,” she adds. 

As a boss, Filmanovic now finds herself mainly managing the team and monetizing the data. “My personal goal is to get better at managing the company and the people, and I also want to do as much mentoring as possible to help future entrepreneurs.” She would like to see more girls among them. “We need to believe more, and be as bold as men without worrying too much about what other people think. That said, being more cautious and risk-averse can actually be a strength in the eyes of investors.”