Accel Partners have funded a green-tech startup, Facilio an amount close to $ 1.5 million, reports state.
About Facilio
It was founded in March 2017 by Prabhu Ramachandran, Rajavel Subramanian, and Yogendra Babu, who were former senior executives of Zoho.
Facilio is a holistic, cloud-based facility management application that makes it easier for technicians across multiple functions, to make use of the real-time building data and run operations efficiently.
Facilio turns an agglomeration of data from various streams into one dashboard that provides key energy metrics. This enables one to draw useful insights from the data.
Thus, one can intelligently organize all the facility operations, make the right information accessible to the people who matter and hence, establish a sustainable built environment.
“Our product is for companies that own and operate multiple buildings. 20-25% of construction cost goes towards facilities ranging from fire-fighting equipment to heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC). Today, the building owner is not in the driving seat. While hardware has been developed, the influence of software on buildings is yet to be seen in a big way,”
said Ramachandran.
Why Facilio?
Shekhar Kirani, partner of Accel Partners said how and why it is the right time to invest in green-tech startups. He explained that hardware focussed startups often have limitations of their own – they are capital intensive and increasing the scale of the business takes time. But it is not the same with Facilio. Kirani said,
“Facilio’s software can deliver value to the customer quickly and works with the existing hardware. The team is solving a global problem and the timing is right given the emphasis towards green buildings and sustainability,”
The Transparency Market Research has pointed out that the worldwide market for facilities management is expected to grow at CAGR of 13.6%, touching US$1,887 billion by 2024. Unlike individual players who offer IoT-based solutions for various aspects like energy management or HVAC, Facilio aims to create an integrated platform that gives the building owner all the information of the various systems in the building in one place.
The startup is a player in the market where behemoths like IBM, Microsoft, and SAP operate.
Future plans
“Energy management is typically a post facto exercise. With IoT and the data we source from buildings, we hope to offer actionable intelligence and drive sustainability, which is important not just for the building owner but every stakeholder in the building from the tenant to the ground staff and occupant,” said Ramachandran.
Facilio has pilots running across 10 buildings. It is also in talks with players in the US and the Middle East. Ramachandran is optimistic about the future of this recently born startup; the fact that no one has ever refused to try their products speaks a lot about the importance of the startup.
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