Chicago-based real estate firm JLL has acquired Roseville startup company Hank, which uses artificial intelligence to manage and control heating and air conditioning systems in commercial buildings for increased comfort and energy savings.
JLL (NYSE: JLL), a Fortune 500 company, is not disclosing the price of the acquisition.
“We think it is a compelling solution for a big need in the market,” said Sharad Rastogi, president of JLL Technologies, a division of JLL, in a videoconference. “We looked at more than 50 companies in the space.”
Hank can be deployed remotely and quickly, which will help the technology to scale, Rastogi said. “Our vision for the future of buildings is automated, AI-powered, smart and sustainable.”
A 2016 startup, Hank branded itself for years as “the virtual building engineer,” because its artificial intelligence software continuously monitors and controls the temperature in commercial buildings. The company has since added smart lighting and other ancillary controls to functions it can monitor and control, said Zach Denning, founder and CEO of Hank, in a videoconference.
Denning has said that he started the company because he found it ludicrous that employees had to wear jackets inside offices in the summer because the air conditioning system couldn’t be controlled better. While Hank started to keep office workers more comfortable, it also had the added benefit of saving building owners 20% to 35% on utility costs.
With the pandemic, customers also wanted to be able to control their systems to bring in as much fresh air as possible.
Hank’s software package uses artificial intelligence and a simple dashboard that allows older systems to be controlled. The system can work in real time, and it can be predictive to be more efficient.
Hank has six employees, but it has installed systems all over the country over the years. Hank installs the systems remotely. Customers install the control package locally, and then Hank’s technology team walks them through the software installation, Denning said.
Hank was the 2019 Sacramento Region Innovation Award winner in the sustainability category. That same year it went through the Launch Accelerator in San Francisco and got an undisclosed investment from it. The company previously received grants from the California Energy Commission.
