Bisly, the startup that is making it economically feasible to turn any building into an energy-efficient building, has closed a €3.6 million round of fundraising. The round was led by Aconterra with support from Second Century Ventures and REACH UK, SmartCap Green Fund, and Pinorena Capital, as well as several angel investors.
The Tallinn-based startup works with both commercial and residential properties and currently is deploying projects in cooperation with over 25 real estate developers and funds. The new funding will be used to capture a fast-growing market by widening and deepening Bisly’s market engagement in Europe, with an emphasis on the Nordics, DACH region, and the UK. “Intelligent Buildings” extend the potential of “Smart Buildings” to be even more efficient by integrating and optimizing individual smart controllers for functions such as HVAC, lighting, and security in a single platform.
With a demanding legislative timetable now in place, the search is on for economic solutions to construct and retrofit buildings with the technological intelligence to minimize energy consumption. Bisly’s open-standard technology offers a drastic reduction in total project costs with specially-developed sensors that install quickly, together with a simple and secure software platform that uses bank-grade encryption. By combining all aspects of Intelligent Building — manufacturing, installation, building management software, and digital twin infrastructure — into one platform, Bisly is able to reduce acquisition costs to the point of near parity with conventional construction and management practices, while dramatically reducing installation and running costs. In its founding market of Estonia, Bisly has achieved a market leadership position in building automation, capturing over 25% of the total market there in less than five years.
“With our unified intelligent building platform, Bisly is simplifying a very complex industry that is addressing the even more complex problem of climate change,” said Bisly CEO and co-founder Siim Vips. “People are just becoming familiar with the concept of smart homes or smart buildings, and intelligent buildings go even a step beyond that. We are driven by a high degree of urgency and by the fact that our solution will get more buildings into sustainable operations in less time and less money than any other solution on the market.”
“SmartCap Green Fund’s main objective is to support early-stage green technology companies, whose product or service is directly contributing to meeting the climate goals,” said Sille Pettai, Member of the Board and Fund Manager at SmartCap.“Estonian technology company Bisly has already established itself as an innovator in smart building solutions both in Estonia and on international markets, making a clear contribution to reducing the carbon footprint in real estate segment and thus contributing to climate change mitigation.”
The global Intelligent Building market is estimated at $86 billion, growing at 11.4% CAGR, and expected to reach $148 billion by 2027. This rate of growth is being driven by strategic factors such as high energy costs and ESG compliance. With the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the EU’s energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) mandates major efficiency improvements in how all buildings utilize energy for things like heating, cooling, lighting, and hot water. According to the EU, 75% of current building stock in the bloc does not meet the required new standards.
SmartCap Green Fund focuses on fostering investments into startups whose activities help to solve environmental problems and achieve the set climate goals. SmartCap Green Fund is financed by the European Union NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Facility funds.
Photo credit: Bisly