Third time's the charm: Today, German conglomerate Siemens announced it will acquire Comfy, an Oakland-based startup that allows office workers to control temperature and lighting. The purchase rounds out a buying spree for Siemens' Building Technologies Division, which acquired two other smart building companies, J2 Innovations and Enlighted, last month. All three companies play a role in helping turn existing building infrastructure into smart, IoT-enabled systems.
"These acquisitions are not just stand alone investments to help us grow our business. It is really about expanding our smart building strategy," explained Siemens Building Technologies President Dave Hopping. "We want to be the leading smart building company in the world and we need companies like Comfy to succeed in that mission."
Siemens told Forbes that while it is open to buying more companies, this will be its final investment in the smart building space for now. They declined to disclose the purchase price of any of the companies.
Comfy, formerly named Building Robotics, is the only user-facing company Siemens acquired. Founded in 2012 by two UC Berkeley engineering PhD students, Andrew Krioukov and Stephen Dawson-Haggerty, it began as a simple app that allowed employees control over every office building's number one complaint: the temperature. The duo originally billed it as an energy efficiency solution for corporate buildings, which would be able to shut down HVAC systems not currently in use.
But Comfy quickly differentiated itself from competitors like Flywheel and BuildingIQ by positioning itself as an end-to-end solution for managing all aspects of the workplace environment. For example, its users no longer need to walk around the office checking to see if "booked" conference rooms are actually in use. Instead, they can look at the app and building sensors let them know which rooms are currently empty.
The comprehensive approach to addressing the workplace environment has helped Comfy land numerous tech giant clients. A source close to the company confirmed they have deals with Microsoft, Intel, Salesforce and Infosys. They currently manage 56 million square feet of office space in six countries. Prior to the acquisition, they also amassed $20 million in funding from investors like Microsoft Ventures, Emergence Capital and The Westly Group.
"Our unique strength is that we have, from the beginning, focused on the end user experience," explained Krioukov. "The building of the future that we envision is one that from the moment you walk into work, it knows who you are and what you're doing that day."
The idea is that Comfy will eventually function as a little personal assistant, collecting anonymized data about your favorite temperature, lighting, seating locations and more. As it learns your preferences, it will adjust building settings as you move around the office, anticipating your needs based on your movement and schedule. If two employees' preferences are at odds, the system will average them out. The company adds that adoption requires the installation of very few additional sensors, primarily tapping into buildings' existing sensors.
Following the acquisition, Comfy will continue to operate as a separate entity, working with Siemens and non-Siemens building infrastructure. When asked about the decision to sell, Krioukov indicated that the major reason was to leverage Siemens' international foot print to concentrate on rapid expansion. The company is also planning to use it to experiment with an array of new product offerings.
"As a startup you can move fast and iterate, but you also can’t bite off too many things at once... that usually leads to running out of money before you have enough traction," said Krioukov. "This [acquisition] changes things. We now have the backing and resources of a much larger company that sees this as a strategic initiative, not just a bet."
