Energy management start-up Ecosync, founded by Oxford Uni engineers, raises close to £1m

By Sam Pither

30 November 2022

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RO Capital Partners, the RO Group’s venture capital arm, has announced that its investee, EcoSync, the tech start-up founded by Oxford University engineers, has raised close to £1 million in its second seed funding round. ROCP announced its initial investment in EcoSync in October 2021.

Existing investors ROCP, the Oxford Innovation EIS Growth Fund, and Oxford Investment Opportunity Network angels including Richard van der Knaap, Founder and Director of B2B SaaS business MCS Global Ltd, have joined in this round, demonstrating their continued confidence in the value of EcoSync’s technology. EcoSync has also welcomed increased investment from angel investors Steve Headington, and Bruce Melizan, EcoSync’s Chairman. The remainder of the funding was raised via Crowdcube.

EcoSync solves the problem that 70 per ent of commercial building spaces are empty but heated, and 40 per cent of the the energy is wasted. Its dynamic energy management platform adapts temperatures control to changing occupancy levels.

The new funding will help the business to accelerate the development of its energy solution, which allows owners and operators of commercial buildings to reduce their heating bills and carbon footprint by up to half, without compromising on occupant comfort. EcoSync achieves this by providing building managers with control over the heating of rooms on an individual basis, considering different occupancy levels and needs, whilst also allowing users to adjust temperatures via QR codes available for each room.

Nick Pledge, CEO, EcoSync, said: “This funding will allow us to reach a cash positive position where we will become self-funding, which is a very important step in our development as a company. It gives us the opportunity to expand into other sectors beyond higher education and grow our AI, sales, and marketing functions to make the solution even more compelling and to accelerate growth.”

EcoSync now looks forward to expanding into new sectors beyond its initial focus on higher education properties, bringing its energy saving benefits to other commercial buildings such as offices, schools, and hotels. With this new funding, EcoSync will grow its team to further develop the AI features of its solution to make it smarter and even more effective. It will also allow the rollout of product enhancements to existing customers.

Edward Rowlandson, Group Managing Director, the RO, said: “We first invested in EcoSync as we were very impressed by the management team, and we saw the opportunity for EcoSync’s technology to help transform energy efficiency standards and respond to legislation coming into the commercial property sector.

“EcoSync’s advantage is the combination of technology, price, and ease of installation. Its competitive position is very compelling, particularly right now when budgets are increasingly under pressure.”

By Sam Pither

Sam is the Regional Editor of Biz News, responsible for both Hampshire and Dorset.

A new recruit to journalism, Sam started writing for the Business Magazine as a freelancer in May of 2022 after completing his degree in English at University College London. His passion for local businesses and ability to tell a story soon caught the attention of the publication’s management team and have led to his meteoric rise.

Sam, who lives in central Reading, takes a particular interest in technology, gaming and food and drink, having been a chef before starting his degree.