Although venture financing is still difficult for most start-up software companies to land, two young companies that likely will compete in the environmental/energy management space, Hara Software Inc. and C3, are attracting more than their share.
Last month, Hara announced $14 million in new financing from top-line investors JAFCO Ventures, Nth Power, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers. The new round brought the total venture investment in Hara to $20 million.
Hara offers on-demand software that manufacturers can use to assess and quantify their carbon footprints and plan and carry out mitigation steps. The company, which counts Coca-Cola as a customer, was selected as a Managing Automation “Company to Watch” for 2010.
Less is known about C3, which was formed earlier this year with the backing of software entrepreneur Tom Siebel and includes former Oracle and IBM executives. In a speech in February at Stanford University, Siebel said he and a management team had founded C3, an enterprise software company whose product will “enable organizations to measure, monitor, mitigate, and monetize their carbon footprint.” Siebel said C3, to date, has raised $20 million in funding.