ESG Investing: Some Noteworthy Companies & the Wave of Interest Behind the Sector

C3.ai (IPO) (NYSE:AI) is an artificial intelligence company that makes software for companies to optimize and streamline their operations with machine learning. It offers a set of software services that help customers rapidly and successfully design, develop, provision, and operate enterprise and commercial AI applications at a small, medium, and large scale. It is also a family of applications for banking, like anti-money laundering, cash management, credit approval, broker rule compliance and has applications for utilities, like distributed energy resource management, AI-based predictive maintenance, and smart grid analytics.

C3.ai’s cornerstone contract is with energy services firm Baker Hughes (NYSE:BKR). This contract mandates that Baker Hughes buy $450 million of services from C3.ai over a five-year period. C3 had received $47 million of this Baker Hughes money at the time of the IPO, with the other $403 million pending. Furthermore, it scales up over time; Baker Hughes will buy $150 million of services from C3.ai.Using that huge contract with Baker Hughes along with high-profile customers such as the U.S. Air Force, C3.ai went public last fall. Commenting on the Baker Hughes deal C3.ai’s CEO, Thomas M. Siebel, stated “The oil and gas sector is undergoing a digital transformation to improve efficiencies and increase safety, while simultaneously reducing environmental impact.”

Green Monday Holdings, a manufacturer of plant-based pork substitute products and frozen meals and an operator of a chain of vegetarian-focused retail outlets and cafes, said it has raised $70 million in financing from investors, including TPG’s The Rise Fund and the massive conglomerate Swire Pacific. It’s one of the largest investments in a plant-based meat replacement company headquartered in Asia and comes as investments into companies developing alternatives to animal proteins continue to surge. Other investors in the round include CPT Capital, Jefferies Group and Sino Group’s Ng Family Trust, along with previous corporate and celebrity investors like Lee Kum Kee Health Products Happiness Capital, the singer Wang Leehom, James Cameron and environmental activist Mary McCartney.

Rivian Automotive LLC is an electric vehicle maker and automotive technology company that develops vehicles, products and services related to sustainable transportation.

In January 2021, the Michigan-based electric vehicle startup said it closed a $2.65 billion investment round led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Fidelity Management & Research Co. LLC, Amazon.com Inc.'s Climate Pledge Fund, Coatue Management LLC and D1 Capital Partners LP, as well as several other existing and new investors, also participated in the round.

The latest investment values Rivian at about $27.6 billion, Bloomberg News reported. Rivian has raised $8 billion since the start of 2019. The automaker is set to launch its first products this year: the R1T electric pickup truck, R1S electric SUV and a fleet of last-mile commercial delivery vehicles for Amazon.

Sila Nanotechnologies, a Silicon Valley battery materials company, has spent years developing technology designed to pack more energy into a cell at a lower cost — an end game that has helped it lock in partnerships with Amperex Technology Limited as well as automakers BMW and Daimler.

Sila Nano has developed a silicon-based anode that replaces graphite in lithium-ion batteries. The critical detail is that the material was designed to take the place of graphite without needing to change the battery manufacturing process or equipment. The material can store a lot more lithium ions, which would theoretically allow one to increase the energy density — or the amount of energy that can be stored in a battery per its volume — of the cell. The upshot would be a cheaper battery that contains more energy in the same space.

Now, Sila Nano, flush with a fresh injection of capital that has pushed its valuation to $3.3 billion, is ready to bring its technology to the masses. The company has raised $590 million in a Series F funding round led by Coatue with significant participation by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. Existing investors 8VC, Bessemer Venture Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Sutter Hill Ventures also participated in the round.

Upstart is trying to rewrite the playbook on consumer credit. Rather than relying on historical data to create a simple scorecard, Upstart uses artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the credit decision-making process and increase access to lending for the masses. Upstart itself is a lender, but it also partners with banks and allows them to use its AI software to help improve offers to clients, thereby increasing approvals, driving down loan default rates, and reducing interest rates for the borrower. Since the application and approval processes are automated, the company's AI-based platform remained in high demand even during the pandemic. Investors have responded as the share price has had a strong 280% since its December 2020 IPO.