Building Energy Management Company, Scientific Conservation Inc., Secures Funding from GE and Triangle Peak Partners
San Francisco, CA – April 28, 2011 - Scientific Conservation Inc., (SCI) a leading building energy management company for the $5 billion commercial building market, announced today it has received funding from GE (NYSE: GE) unit GE Energy Financial Services and Triangle Peak Partners L.P. In addition to GE’s investment as part of its “GE ecomagination Challenge,” GE Capital Real Estate is set to deploy Scientific Conservation’s energy analytics platform in several buildings in the United States, Canada, and the UK.
GE and Triangle Peak Partners made their investment to close SCI’s Series B funding at over $19 million. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
SCI’s technology, SCIwatch™, interfaces remotely with building automation systems to analyze energy consumption in commercial buildings. The technology includes advanced engineering rules driven through neural networks to deliver automated fault detection and predictive maintenance techniques enabling ongoing commissioning of a building. Benefits include reduced energy usage, lower maintenance costs, and a consistent, standard platform that supports a wide variety of energy efficiency programs. Building energy usage accounts for 40 percent of all energy consumed in the United States.
SCI will benefit not only from the funding but the expertise of the new investors. Ricardo Angel, a senior vice president at GE Energy Financial Services, and Michael Morgan, CEO of Triangle Peak Partners, will serve on Scientific Conservation’s board of directors as observers. Morgan is a veteran of the energy industry with strong utility connections and is a former president of Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:KMP). Morgan is a current board member of KMI.
“SCI is now extremely well-funded by a consortium of blue chip investors and positioned to become the world leader of next generation energy management solutions from the cloud for commercial, retail, and public sector building owners and their tenants,” said Russ McMeekin, CEO of Scientific Conservation.
“GE chose Scientific Conservation as a winner of its Ecomagination Challenge because of its value to customers, lead on its competition, strong management, customer pipeline, Software-as-a-Service business model and collaboration opportunities with GE Capital Real Estate,” said Angel.
“Triangle Peak Partners’ deep knowledge in energy efficiency for large buildings makes us uniquely qualified to partner with Scientific Conservation and help the company grow faster,” said Morgan.
SCI has raised more than $28 million along with existing investors, DFJ, DFJ Growth Fund and the Westly Group, has more than 20 million square feet of building space under management and is on track to exceed 100 million square feet by year’s end. The company operates in five countries.
About Scientific Conservation, Inc.
Scientific Conservation Inc., (SCI) a leading provider of energy efficiency via Predictive Diagnostics and Analytics solutions for the $5 billion commercial building market. The company’s suite of energy management solutions uses the industry’s first software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to help reduce annual energy spending by comparing predicted energy and system efficiencies against real-time operation. The company’s headquarters are in San Francisco, CA, with its technology center in Atlanta, GA. For more information, visit www.scientificconservation.com. Follow SCI on twitter at @sciwatch and on Facebook.
About GE Capital Real Estate
GE Capital Real Estate (www.gecapitalrealestate.com) is one of the world's premier commercial real estate investment companies, with US$73 billion in assets and a presence in 31 markets throughout the world. It has a reputation for collaboration and partnership; a depth of knowledge and experience and a history of finding opportunities and opening doors for thousands of direct and institutional real estate investors worldwide.
About GE Energy Financial Services
GE Energy Financial Services’ experts invest globally with a long-term view, backed by the best of GE’s technical know-how, financial strength and rigorous risk management, across the capital spectrum, in one of the world’s most capital-intensive industries, energy. GE Energy Financial Services helps its customers and GE grow through new investments, strong partnerships and optimization of its $21 billion in assets. GE Energy Financial Services is based in Stamford, Connecticut. For more information, visit www.geenergyfinancialservices.com.
About Triangle Peak Partners
Triangle Peak Partners, L.P. is an investment firm focused on venture capital and private equity investments in private and public companies in the technology, energy, and alternative energy sectors. The firm has over $300 million in assets under management, $165 million of which is in venture capital and private equity, and has offices in Carmel, Palo Alto, and Houston.
About GE ecomagination Challenge
GE is driving a global energy transformation with a focus on innovation and R&D investment to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technology. Since its inception in 2005, more than 90 ecomagination-approved products have been brought to market with revenues reaching $18 billion in 2009. With $5 billion invested in R&D its first five years, GE committed to doubling its ecomagination investment and collaborate with partners to accelerate a new era of energy innovation. The company will invest $10 billion in R&D over five years and double operational energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. As part of the initiative, GE launched “GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid”, a $200 million financial commitment challenging innovators to join in building the next-generation power grid. For more information, visit the ecomagination website at http://ge.ecomagination.com.