- Software Motor Company is planning to expand its product line with a new $25 million round of funding
Software Motor Company (SMC) recently announced it completed a $25 million funding round, including a first-time investment by BMW i Ventures. This round of funding will be used for accelerating product development efforts and achieving new milestones. And SMC intends to raise its final round in summer 2020.
Including this round of funding, SMC has now raised over $70 million since 2014 in order to advance its mission to provide the world with optimal motor systems. And this new investment round will enable SMC to further scale its business designing and deploying reliable, efficient, and intelligent motor systems. Electric motors are ubiquitous in any machine that moves thus consuming over 45% of the world’s electricity.
“We’re incredibly excited to partner with BMW i Ventures, and we see this as more validation of the successes our customers have experienced, and the massive potential of our motor systems to transform how people and enterprises consume energy,” said Software Motor Company executive chairman Ryan Morris.
So far, SMC has primarily focused on transforming the HVAC industry as the operation of buildings is responsible for 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions. And SMC is deploying its Smart Motor System with dozens of major retailers, restaurants, and commercial & industrial facilities, where their motor retrofits are driving average energy savings of 64% from their HVAC systems.
If the entire HVAC sector applied this technology and achieved similar performance, it would reduce annual global carbon emissions by 3.2 gigatons — which is the equivalent of 10% of all global emissions from fossil fuels. That would be like adding 10 new Amazon rainforests.
“Electric motors are a massive, $100 billion market, and they move our modern world, while consuming over 45% of the world’s electricity. So investing in a company that can deliver huge electrical cost savings, while selling motor systems that are lower cost, more reliable, and made from more sustainable materials seems like a no-brainer,” added BMW i Ventures partner Greg Smithies.
This round of funding enables SMC to expand its product line to support a complete breadth of HVAC retrofit motors and bring to market its full-stack Building Operating System (BOS) platform to optimize energy and maintenance through intelligent automation.
“The energy savings from our current implementations have exceeded even our lofty expectations. These new investments will support expansion of motor capacities from 1hp all the way to 30hp, which will make the Smart Motor System compatible with the vast majority of HVAC applications around the world. This has the potential to make SMC an indelible component of all HVAC systems as global demand for air conditioning continues to grow under the simultaneous strains of hotter temperatures and rising energy efficiency standards,” Morris added.
