Tech start-up EcoSync has raised close to £1 million in its second seed funding round.
The firm’s energy solution, developed by Oxford University engineers, is said to allow owners and operators of commercial buildings to reduce their heating bills and carbon footprint by up to half, without compromising on occupant comfort. It achieves this by providing building managers with control over the heating of rooms on an individual basis, considering different occupancy levels and needs, whilst also allowing users to adjust temperatures via QR codes available for each room.
The investment has been led by RO Capital Partners (“ROCP”), the RO Group’s venture capital arm, which announced its initial investment in EcoSync in October 2021. This latest round has also brought on board the Oxford Innovation EIS Growth Fund, and Oxford Investment Opportunity Network angels including Richard van der Knaap, Founder and Director of B2B SaaS business MCS Global Ltd. EcoSync also welcomed increased investment from angel investors Steve Headington, and Bruce Melizan, EcoSync’s Chairman. The remainder of the funding was raised via Crowdcube.
EcoSync says it now looks forward to expanding into new sectors beyond its initial focus on higher education properties, bringing its energy saving benefits to other commercial buildings such as offices, schools, and hotels. “With this new funding, EcoSync will grow its team to further develop the AI features of its solution to make it smarter and even more effective. It will also allow the rollout of product enhancements to existing customers.”
Edward Rowlandson, Group Managing Director, the RO, said: “We first invested in EcoSync as we were very impressed by the management team, and we saw the opportunity for EcoSync’s technology to help transform energy efficiency standards and respond to legislation coming into the commercial property sector.
“EcoSync’s advantage is the combination of technology, price, and ease of installation. Its competitive position is very compelling, particularly right now when budgets are increasingly under pressure.”
Nick Pledge, CEO, EcoSync, said: “This funding will allow us to reach a cash positive position where we will become self-funding, which is a very important step in our development as a company. It gives us the opportunity to expand into other sectors beyond higher education and grow our AI, sales, and marketing functions to make the solution even more compelling and to accelerate growth.”
