Emissions tracking startups are attracting cash

Watershed, a startup that helps companies analyze their emissions and find projects to cut them, raised $70 million in Series B funding from VC heavyweights.

Driving the news: Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led the funding round for San Francisco-based Watershed, which claims a valuation of $1 billion. Clients include Sweetgreen, Twitter, Airbnb and DoorDash.

Why it matters: It's the latest bet on the growth of corporate demand for outside emissions analytics and management services.

• Companies face investor and activist pressure to set strong climate goals and make good.
• Regulators in the U.S. and elsewhere are increasingly moving to require emissions disclosures.
• It all requires detailed analytics as companies track direct emissions, supply chains, and even the use of their products.

The big picture: Watershed is among many players offering emissions accounting and connecting clients to renewables and carbon removal purchases and other services.

For instance, the carbon accounting platform Persefoni raised $101 million in Series B finance in late October.

The intrigue: Watershed added new advisers who are well known in climate circles.

• One is Mark Carney, who works with the United Nations on climate finance and is a top exec at private equity giant Brookfield Asset Management.
• The other is Christiana Figueres, who helped broker the Paris Agreement as the U.N.'s top climate official from 2010-2016.