Smart buildings startup 75F raises $18 million from Bill Gates and Big Oil

The smart buildings startup 75F Inc. has raised $18 million in Series A funding from backers including the Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy Ventures and the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative's VC arm.

Why it matters: Commercial buildings are a significant source of carbon emissions, so tech that helps make them more efficient is important from a climate standpoint. Plus, it's the first time OGCI, a coalition of many of the world's largest oil-and-gas companies, has invested in the buildings space.

How it works: "75F offers a vertically-integrated smart building solution that includes wireless sensors, equipment controllers and cloud-based software delivering predictive, proactive building automation right out-of-the-box," yesterday's announcement states.

The big picture: Per Fast Company, "The company has calculated that if its technology was deployed nationally, it would save an equivalent amount of emissions as closing 90 coal plants or saving 827 million barrels of oil."

Go deeper: Axios' Deep Dive on smart cities