Smart building management app Comfy lands $12M funding

Connected building management startup Building Robotics recently closed on a $12 million funding round led by Emergence Capital, with participation from other investors including CBRE Group, Inc. and Microsoft Ventures.

Building Robotics is a provider of software used in smart building controls, and offers the Comfy app that delivers personalized HVAC control to the workplace.

Comfy taps into a building’s management system, providing an easy way to manage the work environment. It effectively turns employee’s smartphones into remote controls for their office. The app also relies on machine learning technology to automate the management of environment controls based on user’s patterns and preferences. Comfy can eliminate hot/cold calls while improving productivity and wellness, all while reducing the energy wasted on conditioning empty spaces.

Building Robotics has already made significant inroads in the corporate real estate space, landing big clients such as Johnson Controls and Infosys.

The company is now planning to introduce additional “people centric” innovations into its app, including lighting controls, said Andrew Krioukov, Co-founder and CEO of Building Robotics.

“Our world-class team is very motivated to take our expertise into other aspects of the work experience; we have some exciting new capabilities coming soon,” he added.

Lead investor Emergence Capital said it was drawn to Building Robotics due to the Comfy app’s popularity with its users. “The consumerization of enterprise software means the next generation of big winners will have a keen focus on the end user. After talking with Comfy’s users, it’s clear that their passion for the product is contagious.” said Jake Saper, an investor with Emergence.

One of the main factors behind Comfy’s growth is the focus among companies towards wellness in the workplace and personalization. One customer, the online advertising firm AppNexus, said Comfy had proven to be extremely useful in keeping its staff happy and productive.

“It’s great to watch people reacting positively to a tool that was so easy to adopt,” said Cadi Withers, a senior manager at AppNexus. “It has completely changed my workflow.”