Butlr Closes $20M Investment; Secures Agreement With Carrier Global Corporation to Use Body Heat Occupancy-Sensing Technology for Smart, Healthy, Energy Efficient Buildings

BURLINGAME, Calif., July 26, 2022 (Newswire.com) - Butlr Technologies, Inc., the world's first and only anonymous people-sensing platform, announced today that Carrier Global Corporation, the leading provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions, signed an agreement to embed Butlr body heat sensing technology into its Abound cloud-based digital platform, making buildings throughout the world healthier and more energy efficient while lowering their carbon footprint. Carrier joins Butlr's Series A round of $20 million, led by investors Tiger Global, Ray Stata, the legendary entrepreneur, engineer and co-founder of Analog Devices and newly appointed Board member, and Primetime Partners, an early-stage fund solely dedicated to the estimated $2 trillion opportunity in the emerging Age-Tech market. Existing investors E14, Union Labs, Hyperplane Venture Capital and Tectonic Ventures also joined the round.

Named among the 100 Technology Pioneers of 2022 by the World Economic Forum, Butlr has patented a new way to use thermal-sensing technology. Butlr's Heatic™ sensors and software platform provide data and insights on space occupancy, utilization and activity while being physically incapable of collecting any personal information. Commercial real estate (CRE) and senior living are the first two industries to embrace Butlr's technology and the company is exploring opportunities for people sensing in additional markets.  

"Employers are thinking hard about how to support the different needs of employees so they can use the office for maximum effect," said Ibrahim Yate, senior analyst, Verdantix. "Butlr is at the forefront of innovation for the hybrid workforce. Its technology can help establish working policies based on how the office is used, such as meeting rooms and focus areas, while enabling managers to pinpoint the types of office space most suitable for their staff."

Productizing the Office with Occupancy Data and Workplace Analytics

The office of the future needs to accommodate a hybrid workforce and varying employee preferences based on role, location and corporate culture. For example, some teams work collaboratively in open spaces while others require private meeting rooms for deep work and one-on-one discussions. In response, the office has evolved into a product, complete with a value proposition, customers and substitutes. Much like a product is tested and instrumented before it's launched, corporate office occupiers and landlords use Butlr's people-sensing technology for private, accurate insights on workplace usage.

"Butlr's technology, when integrated with Abound, will present building owners and operators with additional real-time insights to make confident decisions to improve energy efficiency while ensuring occupant wellness," said Jennifer Anderson, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Business Development & Chief Sustainability Officer, Carrier. "Carrier Ventures is pleased to invest in Butlr to help bring this innovative new technology to our customers. Together, we'll further improve anticipation to ensure smarter proactive building management and deliver on our customers' expectation that their buildings are healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent."

Butlr's real-time and historical occupancy and space utilization insights support CRE asset strategy and workplace planning, including layout and leasing decisions. It also impacts the tenant experience, such as conference room bookings, wayfinding and desk hoteling. Further, it supports building operations and facility management with smarter, healthier buildings while providing alerts on unusual activities.

"From hybrid work to employee experience to smarter, healthy buildings, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a number of nascent trends in commercial real estate. It also created urgency in the need for accurate insights on how office space is actually being used," said Honghao Deng, co-founder and CEO of Butlr. 

"Our latest round of funding enables us to support our burgeoning customer and partner base of real estate and facilities executives with the insights they need to make the best decisions," said Jiani Zeng, co-founder and chief product officer, Butlr.

Sensor Technology Enables Private, Remote Resident Monitoring for Senior Living

In senior living facilities, Butlr is being used primarily for frailty and fall detection based on understanding movement patterns. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, of the 1.6 million residents in U.S. nursing facilities, approximately half fall annually, with one in three falling two or more times.

"Fall detection and prevention is a top issue for our aging population. Butlr is the only solution that will be easy to use, affordable and effective for senior care providers and individuals' homes," said Abby Miller Levy, co-founder and managing partner, Primetime Partners. "We partner with founders with proven technology, market demand and strong leadership. Butlr offers all of this and more as it's poised to capture an even larger share of the $400B senior living space market."

About Butlr

Butlr is a venture-backed technology start-up spun out of the MIT Media Lab in 2019. The company's award-winning people-sensing platform uses body heat and machine learning to detect occupancy, headcount and activity, and generate accurate, real-time and historical spatial insights while being incapable of collecting personally identifiable information. Butlr's patented technology architecture makes for easy deployment in minutes with a low total cost of ownership. Commercial real estate and assisted living facilities rely on Butlr to drive better space utilization, optimize pricing, streamline operations, and improve the user experience. For more information: www.butlr.io.

Source: Butlr