Optimum Energy has completed a $12.2 million financing round led by new investor Navitas Capital, which is backed by a venture capital advisory relationship with Johnson Controls. The round also includes existing investor Columbia Pacific Advisors.
The financing round will accelerate Optimum Energy’s augmentation of its energy optimization and machine learning technologies. Navitas Capital invested because it sees the potential of the Optimum Energy platform to alter the energy efficiency and asset efficiency equations for large-scale HVAC installations worldwide.
Optimum Energy says it brings the Internet of Things to enterprise HVAC optimization, conducting 1.5 billion optimization calculations annually in 70 million square feet of commercial space.
In other news, Siemens will close its solar thermal power unit after being unable to find a buyer, reports Bloomberg. The unit has suffered losses of about $1 billion since 2011. The closure will affect about 280 workers at Munich-based Siemens. The division was put up for sale in October 2012.