Measurabl has netted $93 million through a Series D round of venture capital fundraising.
The San Diego-based real estate ESG platform said the proceeds will go towards continued expansion of Measurabl’s ESG technology solutions for real estate, continued international expansion, and global partnerships.
The funding round was co-led by Energy Impact Partners and Sway Ventures. A global coalition of venture and strategic investors also participated, including Moderne Ventures, WVV, Suffolk Construction, Broadscale, Camber Creek, Salesforce Ventures, Building Ventures, Constellation Technology Ventures, Concrete Ventures, RET Ventures, Colliers, and Lincoln Property Company.
Matt Ellis, Measurabl co-founder and CEO, said: “This funding allows us to further enhance our market-leading ESG technologies, expand to new geographies, and ensure the real estate industry has the investment grade data necessary to transition to a sustainable, profitable future for all.”
The company says that more than 16 billion sq ft of commercial, residential and corporate real estate across 93 countries is on the platform, enabling “unparalleled insights into peer-relative performance”.
Deepki, an Paris-based proptech platform, has announced the acquisition of Nooco, a French company which provides tools for carbon footprint measurement and optimisation in building projects.
The primary motive behind the acquisition is Deepki’s ambition to provide whole life cycle analysis of building energy and emissions performance, the company said.
Deepki’s co-founders, Vincent Bryant and Emmanuel Blanchet, said, “Nooco is a highly advanced technology company that has become a true benchmark in the construction and renovation industry. Its offer is complementary to ours and will enable us to expand our expertise to better support the real estate industry as a whole.”
No financial details of the transaction were revealed.
A new €250 million ($275 million) fund will tackle decarbonisation through a number of avenues, including real estate.
Alternative investment manager Azora is set to launch the Azora European Climate Solutions Fund, which will provide growth capital to lower mid-market businesses based in Europe which provide decarbonisation solutions for the real economy.
The strategy has three key themes: urban solutions, energy solutions and sustainable agriculture. Azora is targeting €250 million of capital commitments to be invested across 10-12 portfolio companies, with average ticket sizes ranging between €10-40 million.
As well as using its own platform to source investments, Azora will also leverage the services of CBRE’s European platform to expand its pipeline identification and value creation capabilities.
The new fund is labelled as an Article 9 fund under the SFDR classification and thus will have specific decarbonisation targets and reporting obligations.
Santiago Olivares, managing partner of Azora’s energy, infrastructure and sustainability practice, said: "The fight against climate change has created a historic investment opportunity to provide capital for companies which provide a solution towards decarbonising the real economy.
“With the launch of this strategy, we want to provide our investors with the opportunity to benefit from a strong and secular tailwind and believe our strategy offers a compelling proposition given our intention is to boost the growth of these businesses through both Azora’s and CBRE’s portfolio.”
KKR has acquired a data centre cooling solutions provider.
The investment firm is buying CoolIT Systems, a manufacturer of liquid cooling solutions, for an undisclosed amount and will seek to scale up the business globally.
Much of the energy use in data centres comes from mechanical cooling to counter the heat generated by servers.
Kyle Matter, who leads KKR’s global impact team in North America, said digital infrastructure such as data centres was crucial to the economy but added: “We also recognise that as a society we are grappling with the enormous energy usage and related environmental impacts that are only expected to accelerate with the rise of AI and other high-performance applications.
“We believe that liquid cooling has a critical role to play in helping to reduce the emissions footprint of our digital economy and we are thrilled to back CoolIT, a leader in this space.”
The Urban Land Institute has launched a European sustainability-focused proptech competition.
The PropTech Innovation Challenge (PIC), is a new competition from ULI Europe to bring together the innovators across real estate and technology.
Entrepreneurs from six regions across Europe - France, Germany, Iberia, the Nordics, Switzerland and the UK - to apply with a proposal that is a novel, but scalable and competitive solution to align with ULI’s mission priorities:
Lisette van Doorn, CEO ULI Europe, said: “We believe tech and innovation are key to addressing some of our industry’s most pressing challenges. We are calling out to start-ups across Europe to work with us, educate us and help us bridge the gap between the built environment and tech and innovation.”
The competition will be structured across two phases. Firstly, a country stage where start-ups are invited to apply and to present in front of a local selection committee of industry experts.
Country winners will participate in a European final and present in front of a ULI Europe PIC committee. The final winner will be announced at the ULI Europe C Change Summit in Copenhagen on October 11th.
Winners will be awarded a one-year ULI membership providing access to research content, event, webinars, education and mentorship programs, knowledge sharing and connections with a multidisciplinary global network of a real estate and land use professionals.
Applications are open until June 11th; details are available here.
New research from Savills has identified the leading global cities in the CleanTech and ClimateTech sectors.
The broker’s Tech Cities research identifies cities around the world which are succeeding in the battle to host growing technology companies. Two growing subsectors, which are also leading the fight against climate change are ClimateTech, which is focused on reducing CO2 emissions, and CleanTech, which has a wider environmental remit.
Savills ranks tech cities on a number of factors, including the business environment, the available talent pool and liveability. The ability to attract venture capital funding is important.
There are also factors specific to certain technologies. This throws up some interesting results for CleanTech and ClimateTech. Many of the top cities, such as Boston, London and Silicon Valley are leaders in tech more generally. However, some cities, such as Helsinki, Oslo and Accra, are particularly notable for their leading role in CleanTech and ClimateTech. The Nordic cities also benefit from high levels of investment in renewable energy and are leaders in sustainability.
The difficulty in scaling up ClimateTech businesses means smaller, university cities often take the lead. Cities such as Charleston and Denver in the US and Hamburg and Cambridge in Europe are taking a lead.
Proptech company Infogrid has raised $120 million in new equity and debt.
The UK-based company has raised $90 million in fresh equity and converting credit loand notes and a further $30m of debt facilities in a Series B funding round. Investors backing the firm include Original Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, JLL Spark, Committed Capital and Pictet.
Infogrid is a sustainability-focused smart building platform which automates and optimises facilities and building management used by 200 customers worldwide.
"Sustainability and reducing costs are paramount concerns for our clients today. In the aftermath of Covid there has been a pincer movement of inflation and climate pressures on businesses, leading to widespread concern over the cost and carbon emissions of owning and operating commercial buildings," said CEO Will Cowell de Gruchy.
The new financing will be used for various growth strategies including expanding Infogrid's dataset and functionality of its proprietary AI-powered building intelligence platform. It will also be used to expand its sales and customer support functions.
Measurabl has launched a new ESG due diligence product.
The proptech firm said its Climate Due Diligence Scan (CDDS) will give real estate investors, lenders, and insurers instant access to accurate, timely property-level data on any real estate transaction globally.
CDDS provides property-level estimates derived from Measurabl's ESG database and physical climate risk data from S&P Global Sustainable1. It covers environmental risks such as energy consumption and carbon emissions, exposure to physical climate hazards, green building certification status, and climate regulations.
"Making any type of real estate investment decision without upfront visibility into its sustainability risks is not only imprudent, it's unnecessary" said Sara Anzinger, director of data products at Measurabl. "More than ever before, transition and physical climate risks carry financial consequences which can threaten investment returns."
CapitaLand is focusing on reducing Scope 3 emissions and partnering with its tenants for its third Sustainability X Challenge (CSXC), a global sustainability innovation competition.
The Singapore-listed property company is inviting start-ups to submit innovations which will improve the sustainability of the built environment. Selected CSXC innovations will have the opportunity to be trialled at the premises of CapitaLand’s tenant partners. DBS Bank is the first tenant partner to join the challenge.
CapitaLand seeks innovations which address challenges such as decarbonisation, water conservation and resilience, waste management and the circular economy as well as enhancing the health, safety and wellness of occupiers.
Vinamra Srivastava, CapitaLand Investment’s chief sustainability officer, said: “We recognise that innovation is a key lever to achieve our sustainability targets. CSXC offers start-ups from around the world the opportunity to testbed their innovations for the built environment at our properties as well as tap leading industry expertise to commercialise and scale up their solutions.
“Twenty innovations from our first two challenges have been given the opportunity to be piloted at 24 CapitaLand properties in five countries. We are implementing innovations from the successful pilots at several of our properties.”
Proptech venture capital investor Pi Labs has launched its 2023 Growth Programme, backing five early-stage start-ups.
The UK-based VC investor provides each company with funding and a four month incubator programme which involves mentoring, training and introductions to prospective investors and clients.
More than 1,000 start-up from 34 countries applied to join the programme. Since launching in 2015, Pi Labs has taken 51 pre-seed or seed stage start-ups through the programme.
Faisal Butt, CEO of Pi Labs, said: “This is by far the broadest variety of entrepreneurs that we have brought together for our Growth Programme. This exceptional group of founders is tackling some of the most pressing issues facing the future of cities, communities and companies. By addressing how data is collected, analysed, deployed and managed, we believe these companies will play a role in shaping how we build more sustainable communities, thriving cities, and resilient businesses for years to come.”
This year’s cohort:
