Indian proptech start-up Ecolibrium has relocated its global headquarters to the UK as it prepares to move further into the market.
The machine learning-led decarbonisation platform, which launched this week, has already signed its first commercial contract with Integral, JLL’s engineering and facilities service business.
The firm has relocated its base to London, and raised $5m (£4.1m) in a pre-Series A funding round to expand into the UK. The round was co-led by Amit Bhatia’s Swordfish Investments and Shravin Bharti Mittal’s Unbound venture capital firm, alongside several strategic investors.
Founded in 2008 by brothers Chintan and Harit Soni, it provides expert advisory as well as technology-driven sustainability solutions to enable businesses in commercial and industrial real estate to reduce energy consumption and ultimately achieve their net zero carbon ambitions.
At the centre of its offer is SmartSense, which assimilates internet of things data points from a facility’s entire energy infrastructure. This information is then channelled through Ecolibrium’s machine learning algorithms, to provide a blueprint for achieving operational excellence, sustainability targets and healthy buildings.
In the Asia Pacific region, Ecolibrium’s technology is already being used across 50m sq ft by more than 150 companies including Amazon, Fiat, Honeywell, Thomson Reuters, Tata Power and the Delhi Metro. An annual reduction of 5-15% in carbon emissions has been achieved by those companies using the technology.
Chief executive Chintan Soni said: “Our mission is to create a balance between people, planet and profit and our technology addresses each of these objectives, leading businesses to sustainable prosperity.
“Our goal is to partner with companies and coach them to work smarter, make critical decisions more quickly and consume less. And, by doing this at scale, Ecolibrium will make a significant impact on the carbon footprint of commercial and industrial assets globally.”
Ecolibrium’s UK expansion has been supported by the Department for International Trade’s Global Entrepreneur Programme.
Minister for investment Lord Grimstone said: “Tackling climate change is crucial in our quest for a cleaner and green future, something investment will play an important part in. That’s why I’m pleased to see Ecolibrium’s expansion to the UK. Not only will the investment provide a revolutionary sustainability solution to reduce carbon emissions across various sectors, it is a continued sign of the UK as a leading inward investment destination, with innovation and expertise in our arsenal”.
Ecolibrium has also strengthened its senior UK management team, hiring facilities and asset management veteran Yash Kapila as its new head of commercial real estate. Kapila previously held senior leadership positions with JLL across APAC and EMEA regions.
To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews
