BuildingIQ to accelerate rollout of Building Energy Optimization software in North America
with funding from Aster Capital, Siemens Venture Capital and Paladin Capital Group
SAN FRANCISCO – January 22, 2013 – BuildingIQ, Inc., a leading building energy management software company with a mission to redefine the way energy is managed in commercial buildings, today announced another significant milestone with the closing of $9 million in venture funding. Leading financial and strategic investors include Aster Capital (backed by Schneider Electric, Alstom and Solvay), the Venture Capital unit of Siemens Financial Services (SFS VC) and Paladin Capital. The funding will be used to accelerate growth and execute energy efficiency projects for a growing pipeline of commercial buildings in North America and Australasia. In a recent report by Pike Research (2012), BuildingIQ was described as “one of the leading vendors for Energy Management Systems in the smart buildings market today.”
“We have a unique perspective on this market as a result of our strong LP relationship with one of the world’s leading building management systems vendors, Schneider Electric,” said Todd Dauphinais, partner at Aster Capital. “After evaluating a wide range of energy management offerings in the market, we quickly became convinced that BuildingIQ’s technology, low cost andhigh ROI profile provides commercial building owners and managers a superior solution. We have been impressed with the company’s growth and are excited about its prospects with this new financing.”
“Over the past few years, BuildingIQ has distinguished itself for offering a solution that not only identifies energy efficiency opportunities but also makes changes in control systems automatically in order to realize those opportunities,” said Eric Bloom, senior research analyst at Pike Research – a part of Navigant. “In our recently published research brief, Building Energy Management Technology Landscape, we highlighted the value of partnerships that allow firms to focus on their unique, differentiating capabilities in an increasingly competitive market for building energy management systems. BuildingIQ’s work with energy management leaders Schneider Electric and Siemens is a good example of this sort of ‘co-opetition.’”
According to Pike Research, the building energy management systems (BEMS) market will be worth $6 billion worldwide by 2020. BuildingIQ is attacking this growing sector and currently running large-scale implementations and pilot programs with commercial enterprises, REITs, institutional owners, property management firms, and utilities across North America and Australia. The company has recently announced significant partnerships with leading building management system vendors Schneider Electric and Johnson Controls and an innovative energy optimization and demand response program with Nevada Energy for its large commercial and industrial customers. BuildingIQ will be scaling up its sales and marketing team in the U.S. to take advantage of these relationships and market opportunity.
“We have a long history of investing in leading energy and technology companies, as well as a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in these markets,” stated Dr. Ralf Schnell, CEO of SFS VC. “We believe BuildingIQ’s solutions and approach are a positive contribution to the industry’s development.”
“We are delighted to partner with a strong syndicate of strategic investors to help take BuildingIQ to the next level,” said Ken Pentimonti, principal at Paladin Capital Group. “In addition to the strong value proposition BuildingIQ provides to commercial buildings, we believe the company’s offering will also help address the energy management goals of the U.S. military and federal government, and we look forward to helping the company extend its presence in these segments.”
As part of the investment, Todd Dauphinais, Ken Pentimonti and Gerd Goette, investment partner at Siemens Venture Capital, will join BuildingIQ’s Board of Directors, which already includes green building industry leader Greg Kats, William Deane of Exto Partners, and CEO Michael Zimmerman.
“BuildingIQ is coming off of a spectacular year of growth in 2012 and we have a great pipeline of opportunities for the year ahead,” said Michael Zimmerman, CEO of BuildingIQ. “This funding from three of the most respected investors in our space – including two of the leading building management system vendors – represents significant validation of our leadership in the sector. Each of these investors brings with them unique strategic channels and relationships that, along with our existing relationships, will help BuildingIQ extend its leadership and execute on our goals for 2013 and beyond. We could not be happier with this unique syndicate and welcome Aster, Siemens and Paladin as partners in our success.”
Recently named to the Global Cleantech 100 by the Cleantech Group as one of the top private companies in clean technology, BuildingIQ provides the next generation of energy management for commercial buildings. The company’s software combines Big Data analytics, sophisticated Building Science, and advanced Business Intelligence algorithms into Predictive Energy OptimizationTM. This SaaS, cloud-based energy management platform intelligently automates and continuously optimizes HVAC operations in commercial buildings, providing property owners and operators with energy savings and peak load reductions of up to 30 percent without any sacrifice to occupant comfort. BuildingIQ’s Predictive Energy Optimization solution often provides paybacks in less than 12 months and can be deployed within days.
About BuildingIQ, Inc.
Founded in 2009, BuildingIQ is a leading energy management software company whose mission is to redefine the way energy is managed in commercial buildings. BuildingIQ’s suite of software offerings are based on unique, patent-pending Predictive Energy Optimizationtm technology. These offerings reduce peak and ongoing energy cost and consumption, helping facility owners, managers and occupants get more value out of their existing HVAC energy systems. BuildingIQ has commercialized building control systems, modeling, and comfort research developed by the world-leading experts at the Energy Division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national research organization.
About Aster Capital
Aster Capital is a leading clean technology focused venture capital firm sponsored by Schneider Electric, Alstom, Solvay the European Investment Fund, global leaders in the energy and chemicals industries who have jointly invested in Aster’s second $130 million investment fund. With a total of $200 million under management, Aster aims to proactively leverage the expertise of these sponsors to support its portfolio companies in their further development. http://www.aster.com
About Venture Capital unit of SFS
The Financial Services unit of Siemens (SFS) is an international provider of business-to-business financial solutions. SFS helps facilitate investments, providing commercial finance, project and structured finance and leveraged finance solutions with specific asset expertise in the energy, healthcare, industry, and infrastructure & cities markets. Employing more than 2,800 employees worldwide, SFS supports Siemens as well as other companies with their capital needs and acts as an expert manager of financial risks within the Siemens Group. As of September 30, 2012, the total assets amounted to €17.4 billion. For more information, visit: www.siemens.com/finance.
The Venture Capital unit of SFS – and corporate venture capital organization of Siemens – invests in early-stage technology companies and established growth companies, focusing on the energy, healthcare, industry, and infrastructure & cities markets. The aim is to identify innovative solutions from which Siemens can profit and plays a key role in Siemens’ global innovation network. To date, the company has invested more than €800 million in over 150 companies and 40 venture capital funds.
About Paladin Capital Group
Paladin Capital Group is a leading multi-stage private equity firm providing capital and strategic guidance to growing companies in the IT, telecommunications and alternative energy sectors. The firm focuses on companies with products and services that are “dual use” in nature, serving both commercial and government customers. Paladin has over $950 million dollars of committed capital across multiple funds and has invested in over 50 portfolio companies. http://www.paladincapgroup.com
Pike Research – A Part of Navigant. (2012). Smart Building Managed Services. Boulder, CO: Pike Research. Retrieved January 9, 2013, from http://s146206.gridserver.com/media/files/SBMS-12-Executive-Summary.pdf
Note: The original press release is here if you’d like to link to the original source: http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/smart-building-managed-services-spending-to-surpass-1-billion-by-2020
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