"All enterprises are grappling with how to handle and understand their carbon footprints in advance of what may be new regulation coming forward," says
Raj Atluru (pictured), a managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Leveraging the trend, the venture capital firm is leading a $2.3 million Series A in Planet Metrics, a startup launching Tuesday that has developed software to help companies measure, model, visualize and lower their energy consumption.
"There's a lot on the country's plate so we don't know when the regulation will come out, but the direction coming out of the Obama camp -- and it was also coming out of the McCain campaign -- as well as the House and the Senate is clear," says Atluru, who leads DFJ's investments in cleantech as well as the firm's investments in India. Atluru predicts the U.S. will create a market-based system that lets companies buy and sell carbon emission caps, thus providing incentives for companies to consume less energy beyond motivations already in place, such as rising energy prices and currying favorable public opinion.
"Companies are moving ahead with sustainability strategies as core business strategies and no longer as peripheral issues," says Andy Leventhal, CEO and co-founder of
Planet Metrics. "This is no longer 'Lets do good for goodness' sake,' or to save the planet. Now there are tremendous business drivers and economic advantages to doing the right thing. Organizations can achieve high ROI by analyzing the way they manage their facilities, build products and services, transport and distribute goods to customers."
Not to be confused with gimmicky online carbon footprint calculators aimed at consumers, Planet Metrics' Rapid Carbon Modeling software is based on serious science, including the Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment
tools developed by the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, which provides information on the carbon emissions of products throughout the world. Rapid Carbon Modeling builds on the data to create a software-as-a-service-based decision support tool that helps companies analyze their energy consumption and measure the impact of everything from product design and packaging to transportation and waste management.
Also being announced Tuesday is a partnership between Planet Metrics and the Consumer Electronics Association to measure and analyze the amount of carbon and other greenhouse gases emitted as a result of the 2009 International CES in Las Vegas, the world's largest consumer electronics tradeshow. The company and the association have been working together for months to collect information, calculate models and analyze the carbon footprint of the show, which attracts roughly 130,000 attendees each year.
When asked how Planet Metrics fits in with the rest of DFJ's portfolio, Atluru points out that the firm invests in several companies that develop business intelligence applications.
"In our portfolio, Planet Metrics is probably most like EnerNOC, with its recurring revenue business model," explains Atluru, referring to
EnerNOC Inc. [
ENOC], the smart grid firm DFJ backed initially in 2003 and which went public in 2007.
DFJ is far from the only VC firm investing in startups that help companies save money on energy and in other areas. In a recent
interview with Tech Confidential, Greycroft Partners LLC founder Alan Patricof said that "people who can deliver a product that will save people money and time" are among the best positioned to capitalize on the ongoing economic malaise. --
Mary Kathleen Flynn
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