As the workforce begins returning to offices, a Chicago tech company making software for the real estate industry wants to help office building managers purify the air pumping through the vents as they work to reduce Covid-19 transmission.
Cohesion, founded in 2018 as a spinoff from Environmental Systems Design, makes a SaaS platform for building managers that helps managers turn their properties into smart buildings by giving them and their tenants tech-powered convenience, and advanced health and safety capabilities.
And Cohesion’s latest product, called Vayu, is a feature that allows building managers to monitor and improve air quality in their buildings.
To measure air quality, Cohesion places sensors in common areas of buildings that measure CO2 levels, volatile organic compounds (VOC), humidity and temperature in a given place. If quantities are too high, Cohesion’s software uses artificial intelligence to automatically communicate with the building’s heating and cooling system to increase airflow.
“When we talk about building health, it’s really about increasing the air quality itself,” said Thru Shivakumar, Cohesion’s co-founder and CEO. “It’s really a way to stop the spread of disease. Everything is about the health and safety of tenants in the space.”
Cohesion says Vayu decreases VOC levels by about 46% and reduces VOC fluctuation levels by 82%. According to the EPA, proper HVAC filtration systems and ventilation can help reduce Covid-19 transmission.
Vayu is currently being used in Chicago buildings owned by Riverside Investment and Development at 150 N. Riverside Plaza, 110 N. Wacker Drive and 320 S. Canal St.
More broadly, Cohesion’s software offerings are being used across 11 million square feet in Chicago, Boston, Houston, San Francisco and other cities, Shivakumar said. Clients include The John Buck Company, Transwestern and Frasers Property.
Besides the air quality offerings, Cohesion allows building managers to distribute mobile keycards to tenants and provides them insight into how tenants use building spaces. Cohesion also allows users to call an elevator using an app to avoid touching buttons, and access mobile keycards for entrance into buildings and conference rooms.
“We provide owners and operators insights and optimization all in one platform,” Shivakumar said.
Since launching, Cohesion has raised $8.5 million to date from investors like Hyde Park Angels, Singapore-based multi-national real estate group Frasers Property Group, investment firm CMT and a host of individual angel investors. Angels include Raj Gupta, the executive chairman of Environmental Systems Design, Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel, and Michael Sacks, the CEO and chairman of GCM Grosvenor.
Cohesion has grown to 33 employees.
