Measurablea startup developing a platform for environmental, social and governance (ESG) data in the real estate industry today announced it has raised $93 million in a Series D tranche of funding co-led by Energy Impact Partners and Sway Ventures.
The round, which Measurabl CEO Matt Ellis described as oversubscribed, brought the company’s total proceeds to more than $170 million. Participants included Moderne Ventures, WVV, Suffolk Construction, Broadscale, Camber Creek, Salesforce Ventures, Building Ventures, Constellation Technology Ventures, Concrete Ventures, RET Ventures, Colliers and Lincoln Property Company.
“This funding will enable Measurabl to further enhance its market-leading ESG technologies, expand into new geographies and ensure the real estate industry has the investment-worthy data it needs to transition to a sustainable, profitable future for everyone,” Ellis told TechCrunch in an email interview.
Founded in 2013 by Ellis, the former director of sustainability solutions at CBRE, the commercial real estate services and investment firm, Measurabl is riding the wave of startups in the ESG sector receiving serious corporate backing. Measurabl provides tools to manage, benchmark, report and track the sustainability of a real estate company, from building-level activities to boardroom and capital markets activities.
Measurabl’s technology can automate the collection of electricity, water, fuel, neighborhood and waste data from utilities, for example. Or it can keep track of social and administrative documents in addition to environmental data.
“Measurabl’s …solutions are critical for companies looking to streamline operations and gain a competitive advantage in an increasingly data-driven world,” said Brian Nugent, a general partner at Sway Ventures, in an emailed statement. “As the real estate industry moves towards a more sustainable future, Measurabl’s innovative approach to data management will be essential to delivering investment-quality reporting and analysis. This is not just a matter of meeting ESG standards; it is a financial necessity.”
That reports a Dow Jones questionnaireESG investment is expected to more than double over the next three years, accounting for 15% of all investment by 2025. But recent political headwinds in the US, such as an effort led by Senate and House Republicans to pass a rule of the Labor Department that allows pension schemes to take ESG factors into account when making investment decisions threatens to dampen the growth of the market.
Case in point: During the final months of 2022, investors pulled nearly $6.2 billion more out of sustainable funds than they put in, according to Morning star.
However, Measurabl’s successful financing suggests there is still a demand for ESG. The company’s momentum probably had something to do with it; Measurabl has over 1,000 clients and claims to be used by 40% of global real estate asset managers.
Another factor in Measurabl’s favor is the increasing pressure on the real estate market to change – often in the form of council-level carbon emissions laws. (According to a sourceReal estate is responsible for about 39% of total global emissions – much of it generated from the production of materials used in buildings and the rest from the buildings themselves and the generation of energy to power the buildings. ) Estimates from the UN climate conference COP26 suggest that $14 trillion of buildings will be uninsurable over the next 20 years if they fail to meet climate and efficiency standards.
“Measurabl is the world’s most widely used real estate ESG data management platform,” said Ellis. “(Clients use it to) decarbonise buildings, mitigate physical climate risks, comply with regulations and underwrite sustainability risks in real estate transactions.”
