Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
Coatue backed Sweep, an enterprise emissions-tracking software startup, to the tune of $73 million in Series B funding.
Why it matters: This is Coatue's first and only investment in the popular emissions-tracking software industry, a source tells Axios.
- Coatue's potential customer network and deep pockets have the trappings of kingmaker among any industry.
Details: Coatue proactively sought out Sweep to lead the Series B, which comes just three months after Sweep closed a $22 million Series A funding round, Sweep CEO Rachel Delacour tells Axios.
Context: That's not uncommon for Coatue, which tends to comprehensively evaluate an industry prior to picking its horse, compared to other large investors that may bet on a company first and industry second.
- Coatue had spoken with Sweep's Series A investors prior to extending the offer, Delacour says.
- Coatue has been steadily inching forward from its position in private growth equity investments toward earlier stages.
- It also invested in sustainable packaging startup Sourceful's $20 million Series A, Axios reported March 28.
How it works: Sweep sells enterprise software to large companies in Europe that need to track and report emissions to regulators, stakeholders or board members.
- It plugs into historical company data to show the company's progress, and uses external data to help decision makers implement emissions-reducing action plans across departments.
- It tends to work with older companies that have complex or siloed data infrastructure to bring all the information together in a single dashboard.
- Think of it as similar to software data visualization tool Looker, but for carbon emissions.
- It can track Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Sweep tells Axios it works with several companies that qualify as high-emitters, but its biggest competitors are internal spreadsheets.
The bottom line: Coatue is betting that carbon-emissions accounting will remain big business as regulators tip the scales in the industry's favor.