Openspace, Gaw back Singapore's SensorFlow

The capital injection comes just over a year after the start-up raised $2.7 million in a Series A round led by Pierre Lorinet, the former CFO of commodity trader Trafigura, who also participated in the current funding round. Other investors in the company include Playfair Capital, Cocoon Capital, Entrepreneur First, 2be.lu Investments, Aurum Investments, Insitu Asia Holdings, SGInnovate and SparkLabs. 

Founded in 2016, SensorFlow helps hotels and commercial properties achieve energy and operational savings. It installs a smart thermostat and a sensor in a room that ensures electricity usage can be better managed using artificial intelligence processes. SensorFlow claims its solution can help clients eliminate up to 30% of total energy costs while live occupancy data also helps them optimize cleaning routes.

SensorFlow is currently being used by more than 10,000 hotel rooms across Southeast Asia. The start-up charges clients a proportion of the monthly savings made possible by a reduction in idle electricity usage. 

The fresh capital will be used for expansion within the region, entry into the Europen and North American markets, and product development. It hopes to sign up 100,000 rooms across the region by the end of the year, especially as a fall in demand for accommodation due to the coronavirus pandemic hastens the need for cost-cutting measures across the hospitality sector. 

“We are excited by the versatile solutions offered and developed by SensorFlow ... which will enable better operational productivity and more efficient resource deployment. We foresee big commercial real estate owners and managers integrating smart building solutions in the not-too-distant future,” said Christina Gaw, a managing principal at Gaw Capital Partners, in a statement.

Other start-ups that offer energy management solutions to hotels and commercial properties in Southeast Asia include BeeBryte, Sensgreen, 75F, EverComm and Barghest Building Performance. The latter is backed by KKR’s global impact fund.

Pictured: Saikrishnan Ranganathan and Max Pagel, co-founders of SensorFlow

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Expansion
• Technology
• Real estate
• Cleantech
• Singapore
• Gaw Capital Partners
• Openspace Ventures