Next Step Living has completed an $18 million series C funding round, another vote of confidence for the commercial building efficiency space. Next Step Living audits buildings and helps building owners connect with vendors of solar panels, efficient lighting, and high efficiency windows. The company can answer questions and explain the potential return on investment for its customers.

Honest Buildings, a startup that is creating a database of information about buildings’ energy use and efficiency characteristics, recently raised an undisclosed amount. The company is a so-called “cleanweb” company in that it’s using IT and software layers to increase efficiency. It’s capital efficient and cheap to scale. But perhaps more importantly, it’s potential future customers are businesses—real estate brokerages, building managers, sellers of efficient building hardware. I’d much rather be selling a software product to a business than build a business from internet advertising or a consumer subscription service.