Enterprise SaaS for measuring company carbon emission is hot. Only recently Planetly was acquired by OneTrust for an undisclosed amount. And there are plenty of other startups in the space such as Plan A, Watershed, and Emitwise, all with their own take on the market.
Now France-based Sweep, which targets carbon management in large enterprises at the FTSE 500 level, is aiming to pull ahead of the pack with a $22 million Series A funding round – one of the largest to date compared with others in the space. The Uk’s Balderton Capital led the round, with participation from New Wave, La Famiglia and 2050. The company has now raised a total of $27 million, less than a year since its launch.
Sweep is pushing at an open door. Last month, BCG reported that over 90% of companies aren’t measuring their emissions accurately and regularly. As ESGs and carbon ramp up the corporate agenda, companies are scrambling for solutions, especially in light of the coming sustainable reporting regulations.
Rachel Delacour, CEO and co-founder of Sweep said: “Our enterprise-grade tool is here to make carbon data collection, security and analysis seamless and automated, so companies focus on reducing their carbon footprint and contributing to global net-zero efforts.”
Bernard Liautaud, Managing Partner at Balderton Capital, has joined Sweep’s board of directors. “Sustainability is a huge priority for us at Balderton and Sweep’s mission and vision are perfectly aligned with our Sustainable Future Goals. When we looked at the market, we were incredibly impressed with the strength of Sweep’s team, and the thoughtfulness and maturity of their product.”
Sweep, now an official B-Corp, was one of the few companies selected to present at COP26 at the UK Cabinet Office’s Tech for Our Planet program.
It also worked with French investment bank Bpifrance to measure the footprints of two companies it’s investing in: telecommunications firm Orange and education tech company Openclassrooms.
Delacour was previously the co-founder of BIME Analytics which was acquired by Zendesk for $45M. Speaking to TechCrunch she added: “Carbon is a network problem. In addition to tracking and analyzing the right data, a company needs to engage with all the stakeholders contributing to its footprint, from a partner selecting manufacturing materials to staff turning off machines at night. To reach their climate goals, companies must continually track all the activities that make up their total carbon emissions, including those falling into Scope 3. The bigger the network, the bigger the impact. That’s why we’ve built Sweep to connect all stakeholders across the value chain, so they can work together to take reduction action efficiently.”