Redaptive is an Energy-as-a-Service company that funds and installs energy-saving and energy-generating equipment. The company’s programs help many of the world’s most sophisticated organizations reduce energy waste, save money, lower carbon emissions, and meet sustainability goals across their entire real estate portfolios. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Redaptive CEO Arvin Vohra to learn more.
Arvin Vohra’s Background
Vohra co-founded the company in 2014. And Vohra said:
“Previously I was the Vice President of Project Finance at Enlighted where I created and ran its Lighting as a Service (GEO) platform, which spans across multiple Fortune 500 companies and millions of square feet installed.”
“Prior to joining Enlighted, I spent five years at Barclays Capital on its Power and Utilities Team. There I spearheaded Barclays’ role in the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program as well as project finance and public-private partnership initiatives to enable renewable energy.”
Formation Of Redaptive
How did the idea for Redaptive come together? Vohra shared:
“The idea for Redaptive’s solutions came from the solar PPA billing structure but was remodeled for energy savings. Essentially, we created a model that would allow us to generate and sell saved kWh as opposed to generated kWh. The savings generated from a program can pay for equipment and installation and eliminate our customers’ capital expenditure while helping them lower their energy usage.”
Evolution Of Redaptive’s Technology
How has Redaptive’s technology evolved since launching? Vohra noted:
“Redaptive has evolved considerably throughout the years. One major way is through our metering and data solutions. At Redaptive we incorporate metering into all of our performance contract programs, ensuring that there is a high degree of transparency of savings associated with the programs. Over the last few years, Redaptive has made tremendous strides in converting meter data into actionable insights and customer value. In 2020, we launched a sensor and software solution that allows organizations to streamline their ESG reporting and perform building energy optimization – this solution is only getting better as we launched our new Redaptive ONE platform that can bring together water, gas, and electrical consumption data easily for our customers.”
“As for the performance contracting side of the business, Redaptive started as a Lighting-as-a-Service provider, scaling LED lighting upgrades across distributed real estate portfolios. Since then, the model has evolved to a full Energy-as-a-Service solution. Today we accommodate a much more expansive model to address the installation and optimization of LED, solar installations, boilers and chillers, RTU HVAC, geothermal, EV, and other solutions for our customers.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Vohra highlighted:
“Redaptive works with some of the biggest and best companies in the world, from the F500 and beyond. We recently, announced major success in helping the Cintas corporation transition a large number of their facilities to LED lighting in order to reduce energy and help them meet their sustainability goals. But they can explain that better themselves – check out this video we worked on with them, which gives a detailed overview of the program: Cintas.”
Funding
Are you able to discuss funding and how the company generates revenues? Vohra revealed:
“We just closed a significant funding round of $250 million with participation by CPPIB, CBRE, Honeywell, Linse Capital, and others. All of that funding goes towards growing our business and expanding projects with our customers.”
“In terms of revenue, Redaptive generates that by entering into multi-year energy performance contracts with our customers. We sell a measured quantity of energy savings to the customer each year over a contractual term. Redaptive funds these programs through a combination of equity and project capital financing. Additionally, we have our Redaptive ONE offering, in which we implement metering solutions at our customer’s sites and charge a subscription SAAS fee for access to the data and the management software.”
Partnership With Honeywell
How is Redaptive’s partnership with Honeywell impacting the market? Vohra commented:
“We see a lot of exciting possibilities from our work with Honeywell as both a partner and as a new customer. Their support in our business means new inroads for Redaptive to larger markets and vice versa. Additionally, as reported by Barron’s, together we hope to unlock energy-saving opportunities, new Energy-as-a-Service projects and to deploy our Redaptive ONE platform to a broader group of customers. Learn more here.”
Macroeconomic Challenges
Has the current macroeconomic climate had any effect on the company? Vohra acknowledged:
“There are many issues popping up across that market that Redaptive is poised to help our customers solve. We’ve seen rising & increasingly volatile energy costs and electricity rates, which are a tailwind for our business since it improves project economics. We have also seen an Increased focus on energy & power resiliency by corporations, largely driven by increases in extreme weather events. Additionally, there is an increasing regulatory focus on sustainability through the IRA and SEC carbon disclosures. All of these factors and more are making companies think more seriously about their approach to reaching net-zero, and Redaptive is here to help them make that change.”
Core Products
What are Redaptive’s core products and features? Vohra explained:
Redaptive has two primary business offerings:
1.) With our Energy-as-a-Service offering, we help:
a.) Redaptive helps organizations scale large energy and sustainability upgrades across their distributed real estate portfolio. We enable this by funding the entire program, equipment, and labor, measuring the savings associated with the upgraded equipment, and structuring an off-balance-sheet service program.
b.) The types of solutions that we scale include energy savings upgrades (including LED lighting, controls, solar, etc..) and infrastructure upgrades (including boilers, chillers, RTUS, air compression, etc…)
2.) On the other hand, our Redaptive ONE solution is broken down into three primary modules:
a.) Building Insights: Our meter is able to measure very granular equipment level readings, and identify opportunities for facility engineers to make enhancements to building operations to drive savings and equipment life
b.) Sustainability Data: We help sustainability leaders streamline ESG reporting and identify opportunities for carbon savings.
c.) Energy performance: Our software solution measures the performance of upgraded equipment to verify if projects are meeting expected outcomes.
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Redaptive’s most significant milestones? Vohra cited:
“Aside from closing our recent funding round and our recent customer announcements I already mentioned… Recently, we publicly announced our new HQ in Denver, Colorado, and we’re excited to be staffing up and growing our team there. We’re very happy to have joined the other great businesses in Denver and expanding Redaptive’s reach for our customers. Learn more here.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is Redaptive pursuing? Vohra assessed:
“According to Guidehouse’s Insights Leaderboard: EaaS Q2 – 2022 report the Energy-as-a-Service market in North America is forecasted to grow at a 30% CAGR between 2022 and 2030, from $4.8 billion to $38.5 billion. At Redaptive we have seen this massive market demand reflected in the adoption of our Energy-as-a-Service solution. The same can be said for our Redaptive ONE solution- we’ve seen a huge need from our customers who want the ability to monitor, track, and report on their energy usage. In other words, we see massive opportunities in our space, and we’re excited to join more customers on their journey to achieving Net Zero.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Redaptive from its competition? Vohra affirmed:
“Redaptive’s solutions are unique in several ways. With our Energy-as-a-Service solution, we can scale sustainability and energy efficiency projects quickly across large-scale building portfolios – maximizing the savings our customers receive. We also fund the installation of energy-saving projects removing the financial barrier most companies face.”
“Through our Redaptive ONE offering, we can give our customers the insights they need to proactively maintain their assets, understand their energy usage, and track their energy savings for GHG reporting.”
“On the other hand, most of our competitors only address parts of the solutions we offer and lack the experience we have through working with large F500 customers.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Redaptive’s future company goals? Vohra concluded:
“In the near term we plan to expand our presence in the enterprise C&I market, optimize our Redaptive ONE solution to offer greater transparency for our customers, and continue to grow our energy saving offerings into new technologies. Redaptive’s mission has always been to remove the burdens that our customers face to reach their Net Zero goals and we continue to build our offerings to meet their needs and make their energy transition, not only possible, but easy.”
