Building-Controls and Carbon Platforms Are Investing In and Buying AI, Not Just Data 

AI is now the most commonly stated reason to buy or back a sustainability business: 25 of the 98 acquisitions and 112 of the 279 fundraises tracked in H1 2026 named AI capability as a driver of the deal. Johnson Controls’ acquisition of Nantum AI and Deepki’s purchase of Sobre Énergie both illustrate building-controls and real-estate data incumbents buying proven optimisation layers to move clients from disclosure toward delivered energy savings. In carbon accounting, BeZero Carbon’s acquisition of AI-native start-up Cedar, and Novisto’s formalisation of its partnership with Minimum, show ratings and reporting platforms folding automation directly into their core workflow rather than treating it as a bolt-on. 

Fundraising Skews Early Stage, but Climate Risk Draws the Largest Cheques 

There were 279 fundraising deals in the period, with an average round size of $6.9m and a median of $2.5m where disclosed. Ninety-five rounds closed at $2.0m or below, while 29 were $10.0m or larger. Energy & Built Environment Decarbonisation was the single most funded category (24% of rounds), followed by Supply Chain Sustainability & Circularity and Climate Risk Management. 

The largest round of the half went to Tomorrow.io, whose Series F was expanded to $210m to fund DeepSky, described as the first AI-native weather satellite constellation, evidence that growth capital in climate risk is now funding proprietary sensing hardware alongside analytics software. On the supply chain side, German compliance platform osapiens raised a $100m Series C led by Decarbonization Partners, making it Germany’s first unicorn of 2026. 

$1.43bn 

Total invested across the 207 rounds with a disclosed size 

$210m 

Tomorrow.io’s Series F, the largest single round of H1 2026 

85% 

Of fundraising rounds led by financial rather than strategic investors 

Looking Ahead 

With fundraising and M&A both accelerating year-on-year and AI capability now cited in more than a third of all tracked transactions, established groups will likely keep adding specialist sustainability software, data and services capability through acquisition, while investors continue backing companies positioned to become category leaders in carbon accounting, climate risk and energy decarbonisation. 

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