By David G. Barry
J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s recently formed
sustainable growth equity team has made its first investment, backing a startup
whose technology enables companies to monitor, report, and act on their carbon
impact.
J.P. Morgan Sustainable Growth Equity led Arcadia’s $200 million
round, which also included Keyframe Capital, Broadscale Group, Triangle Peak
Partners and existing investors Camber Creek, Tiger Global Management,
Wellington Management, Salesforce Ventures, Drawdown Fund and MCJ Collective. The
Washington, DC-based company is now valued at $1.5 billion.
Arcadia aims
to [CG1] provide
access to comprehensive, accurate utility data – information that has often
been a barrier for businesses looking to build climate tech and innovative
energy products. The company’s customers include Ford, EnelX, Aurora Solar and
Stem. It will use the capital to accelerate the impact of its data and API
platform by expanding data coverage and new product development.
In a prepared statement, Tanya Barnes, co-managing partner, J.P. Morgan
Sustainable Growth Equity, said that that Arcadia “is pursuing one of the
largest software opportunities in the clean energy transition” and that it’s
technology platform “plays a vital role in decarbonizing real estate, the grid
and providing renewable energy access to underserved communities.” Barnes
joined the unit earlier this year after heading Blackstone’s Impact Platform.
Osei Van Horne, the unit’s other co-managing partner, also in a
statement called Arcadia “an exceptional first example” of the team’s “mandate
to invest in climate technologies that deliver measurable solutions to the
industries that produce the greatest greenhouse gas emissions.”
Situated inside J.P. Morgan Private Capital, SGE is seeking to invest in
private high-growth companies that produce measurable, science-based
commercially driven positive climate outcomes for the four industries that
account for more than 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions:
transportation/supply chain, real estate/built environment,
industrials/manufacturing and food/agriculture industries. J.P. Morgan is
investing up to $150 million in SGE.
J.P. Morgan Private Capital is part of J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives, the
$215 billion alternative investment arm of J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
