Hong Kong-based AI-powered proptech firm Carnot Innovations (Carnot) announces that it has received over US$800,000 in seed funding from 500 Startups Southeast Asia-focussed 500 Durians Fund, MTZ Holdings, and Entrepreneur First (EF).
Proceeds from the investment will be used to scale their solution across the Asia Pacific while building a strong inhouse team.
Carnot provides AI-powered operations solutions that are cost-saving for commercial buildings. It uses advanced Machine Learning algorithms to predict failures on HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) mechanical equipment and ensures proactive maintenance and repair, allowing an over 30 per cent savings in energy and maintenance costs for commercial facilities.
Carnot said that its technology empowers building owners with new ways to increase asset yield and environmental consciousness. It helps transforms the labour-intensive, error-prone, and time-consuming exercise of building maintenance into an AI-powered dashboard.
Additionally, their data-driven technology estimates future building demand patterns and assigns the most optimal control sequences and setpoints for HVAC equipment.
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The startup was co-founded by Ashish Justin (CEO) and Dr. Chris Choy (CTO).
Justin is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and holds a master’s degree in automation from NTU Singapore with over 5 years of experience in operating and managing HVAC systems for large property owners across APAC.
Choy is a data scientist and full-stack developer with 10 years of research and industry experience and a PhD in statistics from the University of Oxford with the previous role in BASF that involved root cause analysis, process optimisation, and time series analysis.
Justin explained why what the company offers is significant: “Existing practices for maintenance and control of Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems in commercial buildings are inefficient and outdated. They are manual, labour-intensive and in many cases faults and improper control sequences in critical HVAC equipment stay undetected and hidden due to the lack of proactive commissioning. Each commercial building on average loses over US$350,000 of operational revenue every year in energy and maintenance costs.”
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The company claimed that it has deployed projects with one of Hong Kong’s largest commercial property developers.
The smart building system provider said it is expanding to Singapore and Thailand. Its expansion has been sped by support from the government-backed Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP).
Carnot targets to be the autonomous system behind smart and self-cognitive building creating synergies between buildings, their operators. and occupants.
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