Amsterdam and New York-based Scaler, a company helping real estate investors measure and reduce the carbon footprint of their assets, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $10M (approximately €9.2M) in a Series A funding round.
The funding round was led by Plural, with participation from previous investor Base10.
The company will use the funds to further develop the product, grow the engineering team, and expand to new markets beyond Europe.
What does Scaler solve?
Real estate is a major polluting industry, responsible for almost 40 per cent of global emissions. 70 per cent comes from building operations and 30 per cent from construction.
The sector is under pressure to reach Net Zero targets by 2050.
However, currently, only 2 per cent of existing buildings can support the transition to net-zero, so building owners need effective and sustainable tools to meet new regulations.
Here’s where Scaler steps in!
Scaler: Providing ESG data tools for real estate managers
Founded in 2021 Zlatan Menkovic (CEO) and Luc van de Boom (CBO), Scaler provides real estate investors and asset managers with granular data and insights across all their assets, down to building-level and meter-level, to uncover the biggest problems and help them prioritise activity.
Scaler helps clients create roadmaps and order work such as retrofitting or installing heat pumps and solar panels.
Customers can model the impact of decisions and their overall portfolio to asset-level footprint and generate reports for different disclosure and regulatory requirements.
It’s also been designed for specialists and non-specialist teams so anyone can use the tool, from CFOs to sustainability leads and property managers.
Currently, the company is working with 30 customers, which have over $350B under management and have collectively planned $840M in improvement and retrofit measures through the platform.
In 2022, Scaler users reduced their carbon output by 15 million kgs – equivalent to the electricity use of over 10,000 homes a year.
Zlatan Menkovic, co-founder and CEO of Scaler, says “If you want to have a global impact, there are few better places to start than the real estate industry. Investors are under pressure to decarbonise their portfolios, but to do this effectively they need data, presented and analysed in a way that helps them make the best decisions, for their clients and the world.”
“This is exactly the problem we’re solving with Scaler and we’ve been blown away by the reaction and feedback from our customers. We’re delighted to work with Plural to take Scaler to the next level. Few VCs have the operational and founder knowledge that Plural has and we believe they will be a brilliant partner to help us build Scaler into a globally impactful company,” adds Menkovic.
The investor
Plural is an early-stage investment fund that backs the most ambitious founders on a mission to change the world through technology.
Based in Tallinn, Estonia, and London, UK, Plural aims to have a GDP-level impact on Europe, address systemic risks, and reduce the opportunity gap worldwide through the companies it backs.
Khaled Helioui, Partner at Plural, says, “Solving the real estate industry’s carbon problem is complex, when north of 60% of carbon emissions in major cities come from buildings and energy use is only increasing. In only a few years, Scaler has built the most compelling software solution in the market to rapidly appraise investors’ ESG scores across their properties and outline concrete strategies to meet net-zero targets.”
“This is all thanks to the vision and experience of the founding team: Zlatan, a brilliant repeat founder who has honed the craft of product management and data at Uber, and Luc who has deep knowledge of the industry and was involved in creating the first ESG reporting standards for real estate. We’re excited to work with them to transform the real estate industry,” concludes Helioui.
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