EcoSync has raised close to £1 million in its second seed funding round for an energy saving solution for commercial buildings.
The Oxford startup is looking to expand into new sectors beyond higher education, bringing its energy saving benefits to other commercial buildings such as offices, schools and hotels.
It claims to help reduce heating bills and carbon footprints by up to half. It achieves this by giving building managers control over the heating of rooms on an individual basis, considering different occupancy levels and needs, whilst also letting the users adjust temperatures via a QR code available for each room.
Commercial buildings make up approximately 25% of carbon emissions from the whole of the built environment in the UK and progress towards net zero has, so far, been slow. A common issue is that outdated heating systems and practices result in the heating of empty rooms, which can occur as much as 70% of the time.
With this new funding, EcoSync says it will be able to grow its team to further develop the AI features of its solution to make it smarter and even more effective.
Having secured over £1.5m in the last two years through initial investments, grants and seed funding, EcoSync will now focus on executing its growth plan and scaling its deployment to new and existing clients for the current heating season.
Latest investments have come from existing investors, RO Capital Partners, the Oxford Innovation EIS growth fund and OION Angels including Richard van der Knaap, founder and director of B2B SaaS business MCS Global Ltd.
Existing angel investors Steve Headington, chairman of FA Bio, and Bruce Melizan, chairman at EcoSync and ES Global Ltd, also participated. The rest of the funding was raised via Crowdcube.
“Commercial buildings are a big source of carbon emissions and are heavily impacted by the current energy cost crisis, and we provide a quick and economical answer to both issues,” said Nick Pledge, CEO at EcoSync.
“Our solution is not simply a new tool to visualise data, it is a straightforward, low cost, intelligent and easy-to-install way to dynamically control the building and deliver substantial results and quick payback for owners and occupiers alike.
“This funding will allow us to reach a cash positive position where we will become self-funding, which is a very important step in our development as a company.
“It gives us the opportunity to expand into other sectors beyond higher education and grow our AI, sales and marketing functions to make the solution even more compelling and accelerate growth.”
Edward Rowlandson, group MD at RO Group, added: “We first invested in EcoSync as we were very impressed by the management team, and we saw the opportunity for EcoSync’s technology to help transform energy efficiency standards and respond to legislation coming into the commercial property sector.
“EcoSync’s advantage is the combination of technology, price, and ease of installation. Its competitive position is very compelling, particularly right now when budgets are increasingly under pressure.”
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