In just a few months, Crown Electrokinetics will launch smart window technology that is proven to reduce a building's energy use.
Crown Electrokinetics (Nasdaq: CRKN), founded in 2016 and dual headquartered in L.A. and Corvallis, Oregon, manufactures a thin, pigment-based film that when applied to windows, reduces solar heat gain.
The company has worked with Los Angeles-based Hudson Pacific Properties for two years to commercialize the smart-window technology, which is aimed at reducing energy usage and carbon emissions in office buildings, said Crown Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Croxall.
The technology "has positive implications for building owners by reducing energy cost and carbon footprint," he said.
Hudson Pacific and New York real estate firm Metrospaces recently inked master supply agreements to use Crown's smart window inserts in its buildings. The inserts are retrofitted inside the existing window frame and quickly transition from clear to dark to keep out the sunlight when it's hot and let sunlight in when it's cold. This, Croxall said, reduces the demand on a building's HVAC system.
"We can bounce different designs and ideas off of (Hudson), and it gives us insight into what other building owners will likely say," he said. "What we really developed is a piece of technology, so what we’re trying to do is take our tech and commercialize that in a way that provides tremendous value."
Croxall said Crown Electrokinetics performed field tests, the results of which were published last summer. The company plans to have field test data on the tech's carbon reduction sometime this year.
"When installed, the smart window technology reduced the energy required by the HVAC system by 26%, which translates to a reduction in carbon," he said.
Croxall said they decided to take the company public in 2020, first through over-the-counter securities then the Nasdaq with a $21 million initial public offering nine months later. He said the choice to go public was multifaceted.
"It's the belief that it's often better to be a public company with more access to capital, and it forces you to instill discipline at all levels that I don’t always see in private companies," he said. "We’re absolutely the same at heart. If you have a strong culture in your company, being public or private doesn’t effect how the company operates."
Prior to filing its IPO, Crown Electrokinetics raised about $6 million through private investors and hedge funds.
