Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, BrainBox AI, an autonomous building technology startup that makes buildings smart, today announced the close of its Series A funding round at $30M. The Series A round, led by ABB in the first close last October, concludes with a $3.5M investment from Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada’s export credit agency dedicated to helping Canadian companies of all sizes succeed on the world stage.
The proceedings will be used to further expand its global footprint and impact across the built environment. “Ensuring Canadian businesses can reach global markets is vital for their success and for Canada’s economic future. This partnership between our government and BrainBox AI will ensure they can further export their artificial intelligence cleantech solution. Through this investment, BrainBox AI will enable more commercial buildings around the world to intelligently reduce their carbon emissions footprint by up to 40%.” – The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry.
Founded in 2017 by Sean Neely, BrainBox AI was created to address the dilemma currently facing the built environment, its energy consumption, and significant contribution to climate change. Currently, BrainBox AI’s technology for the built environment has been installed in over 100 million square feet of commercial building space, in 70 cities and over 20 countries worldwide.
At the most recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the company was selected as winner of the Tech for Our Planet Challenge, for innovative climate tech solutions. BrainBox AI creates value with savings in energy costs of up to 25%, up to 40% reduction in carbon footprint and improved occupant comfort for commercial real estate owners.
Just this year, BrainBox AI has been installed in over 180 new buildings and 5 additional countries, with expansion into major cities around the world, including New York City and Milan.
“Our government is committed to reaching carbon neutrality within the decade, including through the kind of partnerships like the one we are celebrating today. Not only is BrainBox AI helping commercial buildings across Canada cut emissions, but through this investment, they will be able to export this technology around the world. This will see them reach new heights while bringing game-changing clean technology to a carbon-intensive industry. A great example of the economy and the environment working hand-in-hand as Canadian businesses scale up and access new markets.” – The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development.
“The world requires new solutions that will support the global energy transition and greater emissions reductions, and BrainBox AI is an excellent example of a Canadian company driving cleantech innovation in the commercial real estate sector,” said Guillermo Freire, Senior-Vice President, Mid-Market, and responsible for EDC’s cleantech practice. “We are pleased to join forces with other investors to support BrainBox AI through our Investment Matching Program, which will help the company expand in key markets in Europe, the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.”
“With the official close of our Series A fundraise, we’re thrilled to be working with investors that share our vision of providing a meaningful solution to decrease countries’ reliance on natural gas,” said Sam Ramadori, CEO, BrainBox AI. “This raise will go towards technological development and fueling our international growth, especially in Europe, a region that is actively looking for technologies to aide in its clean energy transition. As the energy industry continues to change, we are constantly innovating in order to provide the required demand flexibility via AI-enabled grid interactive buildings.”
