Benioff-backed software startup helps companies get smarter about climate risk Benioff-backed software startup helps companies get smarter about climate risk Heather Clancy Thu, 06|03|2021 - 01:30 Will that new $50 million factory be threatened by flooding or wildfires? How many buildings in your companys real-estate portfolio might require climate-adaption retrofits? Questions such as these are fueling a flood of early-stage investment in climate tech that crosses over into the enterprise software realm, as companies seek to integrate data about emissions, resource consumption and risk with more traditional measures of operational efficiency. Indeed, one of the more intriguing venture deals I''ve read about this spring came in late May, when a group of investors including well-known Silicon Valley figures Chris Sacca and Marc Benioff chipped in $30 million for a Series A round for London-based venture Cervest. The funding, led by venture capital firm Draper Esprit, brings Cervests total backing to $36.2 million. "Climate tech has grabbed a lot of attention recently, with good reason," noted Draper Esprit partner Vinoth Jayakumar. "But solutions come from understanding the problem climate intelligence is a new $40 billion market category, which seeks to provide us with answers." Cervest, founded and fronted by former banking and agribusiness exec Iggy Bassi, is developing a platform called EarthScan that corporations can use to map physical assets and assess potential exposure to climate risks. "You need climate science that is at the service of business decisions," Bassi told me.