Buildings consume almost 40% of all the electricity. And HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning) consumes a dominant portion of this electricity within buildings (and in cold regions, building heating consumes a large proportion of all heating energy consumption).
Fortunately, these very energy consuming equipment also happen to be the ones on which digital solutions can be applied relatively easily and significant efficiencies derived.
Is it then any surprise to see dozens of startups working in the intersection of digital (especially IoT and AI) and HVAC
From a startup perspective, to win big, they need to get closer to their customers and explore how best their solutions can deliver deep efficiency reductions, much more than what plug-and-play software wraparounds can. This is not easy, and there could be challenges in scaling such a customized approach, but this could be the way to build a powerful startup.
For the venture capital and investing community, the challenge is the inverse. While they will surely be getting a number of startups in this space pitching their wares, evaluating which of these startups provide deep and sustainable value might not be as easy it appears. The task is thus cut out for investors in this space as well.
