Measurabl Raises 2M in Series Seed Funding
Measurabl, a startup based in San Diego, has raised $2 Million in a Series Seed funding round led by Crosscut Ventures. A number of industry and professional investors participated in this round of funding. Measurbal intends to use this finance injection to further grow their product range through R&D as well as expand their market reach and sustain it through new hires.
Matt Ellis, formerly the Director of Sustainability Solutions at CBRE, founded Measurabl in April 2013. Its core business is in cloud-based sustainability reporting. According to Measurabl, their products (cloud-based software), collects non-financial (“sustainable”) data from different companies within a specific industry, analyzes the data then avails the simplified information to other companies through surveys, and benchmarks. This process is automated, and does not infringe data disclosure regulations. Measurabl has made it easy for companies to collect data and report almost free of charge through free and paid pricing plans. Their products are also easy to use by both technical and non-technical people through their intuitive user interface as well as a set of open APIs.
With the increasing demand for sustainability data, Matt is confident that this funding will boost their growth as evidenced in his statement, “This investment will allow us to realize our full product vision: to be the world’s clearinghouse for non-financial data. Sustainability data is the new coin of the realm. Investors, regulators, and consumers are demanding this information. Measurabl will be at the center of how this information is collected, analyzed, and shared.”
Though the company is pretty new, having only been in operation for about one and a half years; they already have two products in the market with two others in pilot stage. Their first product was GRESB reporting solution that was piloted in 2013 and released to the market in 2014. This product enables companies in the real estate industry to disclose sustainability performance without hurting their business. It aggregates data from thousands of companies worth more than $250 billion altogether. Its’ early adopters include titans Clarion Partners, CBRE Global Investors, and TA Realty. CDP reporting solution is its other reporting solution, which is currently in its pilot stage with Intuit, VMware, and Jack Morton Worldwide. GRI reporting solution is the fourth product in the pipeline, awaiting piloting. Measurabl is currently enrolling more leading companies to participate in the pilot stage.
Measurabl also introduced another product to the market recently, targeting utility services. The product, called Utility Sync, is a data aggregation service only. It allows users to collect utility data and drive it to Energy Star regardless of the amount. Hundreds of commercial buildings in US, Canada, and Mexico are already using this product.
Rick Smith, Managing Director, Crosscut, will be the newest member of Board of Directors of Measurabl. This was part of the seed funding deal. He will be joining other key members like CBRE and Microsoft.
Rick noted that sustainability data would be significant in the near future, and that Measurabl had cemented its place as the go-to person in this niche. He said, “Sustainability disclosure and data management is emerging as an essential business process. Measurabl’s incredible adoption in the commercial real estate market and beyond has validated its approach to process simplification while its business model has demonstrated agility and scalability.”
Sustainability reporting has been around since the late 1980’s. However, in the last two decades they have become an essential part in business reports partly due to accountability and transparency. Every company strives to show their shareholders and customers their social, economic and environmental impact that could potentially attract new customers and investors. This being an emerging niche, it is as of yet, untapped and holds a lot of potential. While there are other companies that offer sustainability reporting services, Measurabl right now holds a good position. Nonetheless, as the niche grows we can only wait to see how cutthroat it will get.
