Category: Technology

The 10 most funded Canadian property tech companies

Posted on by Russell Hixson

A new report is shedding light on the movers and shakers at the heart of the country’s booming property tech industry. It was produced by Sustainable PropTech, a collaborative think tank of industry leaders in real estate and technology.

“We’re starting to see a shift in the way property technology is adapting to improve building sustainability and meet building operator needs,” said Mansoor Kazerouni, global director of buildings for IBI Group and one of the experts interviewed for the report. “The application of design principles such as digital twins and Passive House will set the stage for the future of sustainable urban development.”

The following is a list of sustainable Canadian property tech companies with the largest capital raises:

10. Brainbox AI – $36,000,000

This Montreal company uses technology to make building HVAC systems smarter and greener. The big brains behind the company are in part a collaboration. BrainBox AI works with research partners including the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO) as well as educational institutions including Montreal’s Artificial Intelligence Institute (MILA) and McGill University.

9. Dcbel – $40,000,000

Dcbel wants to charge you up. Dcbel’s home energy station brings premium DC charging to residential customers. The Montreal company says it delivers more energy, a faster full-range charge and the ability to power cars with solar panels. 

8. Encycle – $43,900,000

This company began by studying how honeybees use swarm intelligence to harmoniously conduct their daily tasks. They’ve turned those lessons into more than $10 million in HVAC savings. The company uses their technology to help multi-site commercial and industrial companies drastically boost the efficiency of their HVAC systems using artificial intelligence-based services. Encycle serves a broad range of markets and building types, including retail, commercial and industrial. The company noted that perhaps its greatest appeal to customers is that its programs become cash-flow positive almost instantaneously.

7. Ecobee – $47,000,000

What’s all the buzz about? Ecobee was founded with the goal of offering people smart home solutions that enable planet positive actions. They specialize in smart thermostats, temperature and occupancy sensors, smart light switches, smart cameras, and contact sensors. The bees have been busy. To date, ecobee thermostats have delivered over 25 TWh of energy savings. The company says that’s like taking all the homes in Los Angeles off the grid or 3.8 million cars off the road for a year. 

6. Falkbuilt – $48,000,000

Falk is the Danish word for falcon and this company aims to soar to new heights with digital construction tools. Falkbuilt specializes in digital component construction, a new process that incorporates traditional construction components and methods with next-gen technology. Falkbuilt manufactures everything in its factory and delivers precise components onsite for a fast, efficient and clean install. The company says this means fewer materials are needed, faster schedules and less waste on the job site. They call it “conventional construction on steroids.”

5. Nexii – $85,000,000

This green building technology provider has been making waves in the Pacific Northwest. Nexii designs and manufactures low carbon buildings and products to address the climate impact of the built environment. The company uses its own material, Nexiite, along with its construction process to rapid assembly of high-quality buildings and infrastructure with reduced end-to-end carbon emissions, near zero waste and less disruption to the community.

4. GoBolt – $89,000,000

GoBolt believes that the logistics industry is massive and broken. Their goal is to clean up the mess. The company is technology-enabled fulfillment and last-mile delivery provider for businesses of all sizes – from local ecommerce shops to large national retailers.

3. DIRTT – $100,000,000

They may have a dirty name but their goal is to keep things clean. This industrialized construction company specializes in interior spaces. Their team uses custom manufacturing to translate unique visions into compelling spaces where people collaborate, socialize, learn, and heal. Their focus is on advanced digital tools and a sophisticated product infrastructure. DIRTT operates in the workplace, healthcare, education and public sector markets. The company says that their system provides total design freedom, and greater certainty in cost, schedule and outcomes.

2. Hydrostor – $260,000,000

Founded in Toronto in 2010, Hydrostor develops utility-scale energy storage facilities. Hydrostor uses its proprietary advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) system to improve on the mature compressed air energy storage (CAES) technology by eliminating emissions, increasing efficiency and providing location flexibility. The company believes that by leveraging proven construction techniques with known standard equipment and using only air, gravity, and water it can offer a bankable product around the globe. 

1. Amp Energy – $374,000,000

Toronto-based Amp Energy develops, owns and operates clean energy assets around the clone. Alongside Amp X, its disruptive grid-edge technology platform utilizing proprietary artificial intelligence expertise, the company is looking to reimagine the grid and be a leader in energy transition. While it has Canadian roots, Amp operates throughout North America, Australia, Japan, Spain, Czech Republic, and the U.K.

Key Takeaways:

  • Calgary-based Carbon Upcycling will have its low-carbon concrete tested for three years on U.S. highways.
  • The company uses CO2-enhanced fly ash to reduce cementitious material.
  • Their method will be compared to 14 other low-carbon alternatives as well as traditional concrete.
  • Researchers plan to publicly release the study results.

The Whole Story:

Carbon Upcycling, a waste and carbon utilization company commercializing a portfolio of circular and CO2-embedded materials, has wrapped up work on a concrete demonstration project led by the National Road Research Alliance (NRRA).

The project carved out an active section of highway road along Interstate-94 to trial 14 unique concrete mixtures, including Carbon Upcycling. The section of highway is located at the Minnesota Road Research Facility (MnRoad) in Albertville, Minn. 

Mixing it up 

Researchers chose 14 mixture designs that employ a variety of methods to decarbonize concrete, including the utilization of supplementary cementitious materials, portland limestone cement, alternative supplementary cementitious materials, alternative cement and liquid carbon dioxide – all for the purpose of reducing the lifecycle carbon footprint of concrete. 

Researchers are comparing each mixture to a conventional concrete mixture design prepared using portland limestone cement and fly ash.

Carbon Upcycling utilizes CO2-enhanced fly ash in its concrete. The company stated that this method has seen double-digit reductions in total cementitious material – an industry leading achievement for low-carbon concrete.

Down the road

“This demonstration project is intended to give companies an opportunity to put forward the most sustainable concrete mixtures their technologies and materials can achieve, without sacrificing performance,” said Larry Sutter, principal engineer for Sutter Engineering and the demonstration’s technical manager. “Carbon Upcycling has submitted a very impressive mixture design. Their material embeds co2 in the concrete, thereby accomplishing carbon sequestration. Additionally, their process improves the SCM reactivity, allowing for significant reductions in the portland cement used.” 

Sutter noted that Carbon Upcycling’s mixture design accomplished the highest reduction in total cementitious materials of all mixture designs submitted. He added that the data collected from the project will be critically informative to the cement and concrete industry and will facilitate implementation of these new materials as the industry works to reach its ambitious 2030 CO2 reduction targets.

Rolling out data

The NRRA and Mnroad project includes three years of testing and data collection to assess the different mixture designs. They plan to make results publicly available.

“Carbon Upcycling aspires to be the most impactful carbontech company of this decade,” said Apoorv Sinha, Carbon Upcycling co founder and CEO. “Third-party verified data like this further reinforces the industry’s confidence in our solution, and we will be announcing our first commercial-scale projects with engaged partners later this year.”