PassiveLogic has secured $34 million in Series B funding from investors Addition and Keyframe, the company said in a release.
The firm noted that these investors are joined by commercial real estate strategics, including RET Ventures, Brookfield Growth, and Era Ventures from the U.S., and Europe’s largest proptech VC firm, A/O PropTech.
“Buildings are the world’s most complex systems, a problem that increases as buildings become ‘smart.’ We’ve built a platform that tames increasing complexity and addresses the growing technology needs of the built environment,” said PassiveLogic CEO Troy Harvey. “At PassiveLogic, our core focus is to redefine how people participate in the design, build, operation, and maintenance of complex systems.”
PassiveLogic was founded in 2016, and the company has developed a product ecosystem that it describes as enabling autonomous systems “from development to deployment”. PassiveLogic’s software environment, Autonomy Studio, allows users to build models by drawing, according to the company. The software then generates a physics-based digital twin, in a new description language called Quantum. These applications deploy within PassiveLogic’s control hardware, the Hive, a scalable automation platform, the company said.
“PassiveLogic’s platform has unique capabilities to generate a digital twin of a building and utilize new autonomous technologies, machine learning and easily configurable software to help streamline the implementation and management of building controls systems,” said Todd Arfman of Addition. “We’re thrilled to double down and continue our investment in PassiveLogic to modernize today’s building infrastructure and connectivity.”
The company highlighted that Quantum provides virtual analogs to real-world objects, powered by the company’s physics-based artificial intelligence technology. This enables real-world objects to understand their behavior and interactions and learn in place while operating in real time. PassiveLogic’s autonomous suite is built around their Hive controller, enabling connectivity to building systems. Hive controllers work together within a building to provide an edge platform for sensors, equipment, and IoT, allowing whole-building control without requiring cloud connectivity. In recent pilot projects, PassiveLogic’s approach demonstrated 30% energy savings and 90% labor savings in programming, installation, and commissioning compared to conventional solutions.
PassiveLogic’s product suite understands how a building’s equipment and systems interact, allowing processing times to be slashed from many days to a few minutes. This functionality allows local in-building AI to make real-time control and management decisions that co-optimize comfort, maintenance, efficiency and operational costs.
“The version of ‘machine learning’ in today’s building automation applications lack effective data controls. With PassiveLogic’s solution, we finally have the opportunity to leverage more powerful technology to make an impact in the building market, which accounts for 39 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions,” said Benjamin Birnbaum, partner at Keyframe. “We are excited to be a part of this funding round to bring a first of its kind solution to the building sector – one that has been starved of innovation far too long.”
