The AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry needs to clean up fast, and environmentally-focused investors are backing an Atlanta-based EnergyTech startup to do just that.
Cove.tool, a startup that helps design and construction professionals reduce carbon emissions and build affordable, more energy efficient buildings, just closed its $30 Million Series B.
New York-based investment firm Coatue led the round with FootPrint Coalition, the VC firm founded by actor Robert Downey Jr.
Previous investors Mucker Capital, Urban Us, and Atlanta-based Knoll Ventures also joined the round.
FootPrint’s first $50 million fund has backed global sustainability-focused companies in wind, food substitutes, energy, and other verticals over the last year.
“The construction and operation of buildings accounts for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. By combining energy efficiency, design, and transparency for material selection, cove.tool addresses this massive problem. It’s a prime example of a scalable business that employs machine learning and principled leadership to literally build a better future,” Downey Jr. said in a press statement about the investment in cove.tool.
Lead investor Coatue is no stranger to the Atlanta startup scene, leading Restaurant Tech sundayapp’s seed and Series A along with joining OneTrust’s Series C at the end of 2020.
Cove.tool by the numbers
It’s been a busy year and a half for cove.tool, which closed its $5.7 million Series A in October of 2020.
Since then the team rolled out additional products, like a load modeling tool to help better design spaces with cooling or heating units and a drawing tool for rapid 3D prototyping. Co-founder and CEO Sandeep Ahuja told Hyepepotamus that these tools were part of the startup’s roadmap over the course of 2021 and help “connect key data points within the AEC space.”
The platform now boasts 15,000 users in 30 countries, helping construction sites offset 28.5 million tons of carbon. The startup says that is the equivalent of planting 450 million trees for ten years.
The team has also grown to a headcount of 60 after starting 2021 off with 25 employees.
Large product manufacturers like HDR, AECOM, Skanska, and Stora Enso are counted among cove.tool’s customers.
