When entrepreneur Jeff Soplop looks at a building, he doesn’t just see walls, floors and a roof.
“People look at a building and they don’t think about the complexities that are happening within those walls,” he said. “Buildings are very dynamic systems.”
His startup, Pittsboro-based Nimble Energy, exists to help building owners manage those systems via AI analytics – and investors are starting to buy in, funneling in hundreds of thousands of dollars, despite the fact the company is just eight months old.
The energy and utilities management startup embeds a “virtual team” with its platform – aiming to reduce complexities and cost.
It’s a big problem, according to Nimble Energy, as 30 percent of energy used in commercial buildings is wasted, equating to $42 billion in energy waste in the U.S. alone, according to its website.
Soplop, a 20-year veteran of the energy and analytics sectors, formerly worked at companies like Brightly (previously called Dude Solutions) and ICF International. He’s led major teams and seen companies scale from a handful to thousands of employees.
But he’s never founded a startup until now.
Soplop said what he saw as an unprecedented opportunity in the sector inspired him to take the leap.
“The market moment for energy is such a great time,” he said.
The firm launched in March, with its platform coming online in July. Soon after, it had its first paying clients.
Initially, the company is targeting building owners and operations – firms with portfolios of buildings they need to manage.
“The initial goal of the platform is to come in and provide these teams with a tool that helps them to navigate the complexities,” he said, noting that these types of firms need to think about multiple challenges at once – from cost savings to operational efficiency to regulatory compliance. The platform provides them with a “virtual team” of sorts to balance it all at once.
Early investors are buying in – including Primordial and the Tweener Fund. They said Nimble’s early customer list helped it stand out as they were writing checks.
Jenn Summe of Primordial credited Soplop’s background with Nimble’s ability to quickly bring a product to market and acquire customers – all within six months.
“We also love how well he understands his customers and continues to actively seek feedback for continuous product improvement,” she said.
Scot Wingo, founder of the Tweener Fund, also said Soplop's experience helped reel in his interest.
“Jeff has a ton of domain knowledge, an impressive idea and a solid product" with early customer validation, Wingo said. “Add all that up and we decided to join along for the journey and support Jeff as he builds Nimble.”
So far, Soplop has closed on about $200,000. But the plan is to shoot for a total of $500,000, Soplop said.
Nimble has seven employees with four being full-time staff. The company is hiring, particularly in sales.
The firm has about half a dozen clients using its platform.