Early January ‘21 PHYSEE announced having closed the first half of its Series A investment after raising EUR 4M from new investors Phase2.Earth and Adunare, existing investors Job Dura and EDGE.
Early January ‘21 PHYSEE announced having closed the first half of its Series A investment after raising EUR 4M. Recently PHYSEE concluded its Series A investment round by raising another EUR 4M from new investors Phase2.Earth and Adunare, existing investors Job Dura and EDGE. PHYSEE has now raised in total EUR 8M in growth capital to fund the European roll-out of its SENSE solution and to accelerate the industrialization of its light-converting coatings.
At the end of 2019, PHYSEE launched its SmartSkin solution, which has now become part of the complete product SENSE. SENSE is a smart & sustainable building platform that uses sensors, solar cells and machine learning algorithms to make buildings smarter and more sustainable. The solution makes buildings 30% more energy efficient and contributes to greater comfort, happiness, health and productivity in working environments. This is achieved because SENSE analyzes data, such as temperature, light and air quality, and independently controls the building's climate installations (such as sun blinds, lighting, ventilation and air conditioning) using self-learning algorithms. SENSE is now completely wireless, which greatly simplifies installation and chain integration and is unique in maximizing outside environment to improve indoor climate. With this funding round, PHYSEE will be ready with SENSE to conquer Europe. Something that the existing and new investors (Phase2Earth, Adunare, Job Dura, EDGE) are happy to contribute.
Furthermore, PHYSEE, a spin-off from the Technical University of Delft, is an expert in the development of light-converting coatings. By adding PHYSEE’s proprietary POWER+ coating, which has recently seen great progress, windows will be able to generate power, making buildings energy neutral. Within this coating domain PHYSEE is also close to commercializing its agricultural PAR+ coating, which converts UV light into PAR light, allowing crops to grow 7% faster in greenhouses. Once successful, the coating will significantly contribute to meeting the world’s growing food demand in a sustainable manner.
Coen van Oostrom, CEO of EDGE, which has participated again in this investment round after an initial investment in 2019, states: “The biggest challenge facing the real industry today is making our built environment healthier, sustainable and more inspiring. I am certain that innovation is and will remain the one true enabler for a much-needed revolution and PHYSEE is one of those companies that perfectly embodies this. I have been a huge fan of PHYSEE from day one and I am very excited to continue our support for the coming years.”
Boudewijn Poelmann, CEO of Phase2.Earth, a recently launched impact investment fund, “Our investment mission is to invest in companies with a great potential to bring about long-lasting sustainable change in sectors which may initially have been reluctant to innovate, such as the construction sector. However, we don’t simply invest in dreamers. We want to see the potential of great impact combined with commercial traction, as for instance evidenced by PHYSEE’s partnerships with major glass manufacturers, so we know that new products and solutions will be adopted by the market. We have known PHYSEE for a long time and have carefully selected this participation as our first hardware enabled software business and will support them to have global impact.”
Ferdinand Grapperhaus jr., PHYSEE’s CEO and co-founder, “The fact that we have been able to quickly close the second half of our Series A investment round by attracting capital from new and existing investors, is a testament to PHYSEE’s potential and the focus from leading real estate developers to invest in sustainable and comfort increasing technology. We look forward to deploying this new capital to accelerate the roll-out of our smart and sustainable building platform and to speed up the commercialization of our light-converting coatings.”
About PHYSEE
The 50 international employees of PHYSEE (physics + seeing = PHYSEE) use technology to create a more sustainable, comfortable and healthy world. With SENSE the company is the first in the world to put the façade first in a smart building platform and uses sensors and solar cells in combination with self-learning algorithms to have buildings save up to 30% on their total energy consumption. In addition to the SENSE solution, PHYSEE has developed two transparent coatings for glass: The PAR+ coating converts UV light into PAR light, allowing greenhouse plants to grow 7% faster. The POWER+ coating generates electricity from sunlight.
Since its start in 2014, the Delft company has experienced significant growth. PHYSEE has been named start-up of the year in the Netherlands (2014), Europe's best energy start-up (2015), and won the World Postcode Lottery Green Challenge in 2016. After the company was named the most innovative company in the Netherlands by the Chamber of Commerce in 2019, it signed two major contracts with global glass manufacturers this year to sell the technology worldwide.
