New Funding Boosts OutSmart Power
courtesy
Outsmart CEO Kevin Johnson
Natick-based OutSmart Power Systems, a manufacturer of electrical monitoring technology at the circuit level, is pushing to broaden its market following a recent round of $1.5 million in private venture funding.
Outsmart, which offers electricity usage analytics technology in a product called EnergyMate, has raised a total of $9 million since 2008.
The Information Gap
CEO and founder Kevin Johnson said if you think of commercial and industrial buildings as heart patients, OutSmart's technology delivers the precise information of an EKG with the ease of a stethoscope.
"It's easy to install and cheaper," than existing technology, which he said is too big and cumbersome, he said.
Many businesses have no detailed understanding of where their energy is going, said Johnson.
"We access that through a whole parallel path, starting with sensors and ending with analytics, [to see] what's using what energy," he said.
The company's customers – which include data centers, laboratory or pharmaceutical facilities and food manufacturing or cold storage buildings – all "use lots of energy and equipment," Johnson said.
OutSmart counts six grocery chains among its clients, as well as Progress Software Corp., a publicly traded firm based in Bedford. Outsmart targets electricity users with multiple buildings using $3 or more per square foot of power per year, with high load diversity, he said, which is to say many parts of the buildings are using energy at the same time.
Relationships Will Be Key
Outsmart said the $1.5 million in financing from undisclosed investors will allow it to grow its customer base, work on its technology and expand distribution through strategic partners.
"The funding will be used to continue to deliver and expand to customers we're installed with, most of which have significant portfolios behind them," said OutSmart vice president of business development Leo Ryan.
Johnson lists Honeywell and Siemens as some of the big makers of electric efficiency automation systems that utilize environmental sensors. They regulate things like carbon dioxide and humidity to make buildings more comfortable and efficient, he said. Partnerships with these types of companies, he said, will be key to OutSmart's growth.
"They already have equipment and relationships with customers and need access to data our company can provide," Johnson said.
The missing piece of the puzzle for many electricity users is analyzing electricity data, Johnson said.
Outsmart does this with software that can interrogate data, said Johnson, identify problems — such as a broken compressor in a refrigeration system — and identify root causes, which can often be complicated. For grocery stores, a low-profit-margin industry to begin with, quick and accurate solutions are crucial, he said.
Johnson said in addition to building on the existing customer base, OutSmart looks ahead to provide newer features, more software and more analytics.
"The real value for customers is in the data," he said, "and what you can do with that data."
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