Building management is one of the hottest markets in efficiency—and Serious already has 60 customers lined up. SEC forms reveal a $56 million round.
Serious Materials has quietly invaded the building management market.
The company - primarily known for green building products like eco-friendly drywall and insulating windows - has developed a software-as-a-service for monitoring and lowering energy consumption in commercial buildings. The nub of the software comes from an undisclosed acquisition. (Update: we wrote the story Friday and today learned the name of the company is Valence Energy.) Serious already has 60 customers and some of them have multiple buildings, said CEO Kevin Surace. Like the building management tools from Scientific Conservation, EnerNoc and BuildingIQ, Serious' software is compatible with the existing building management systems. Specifically, it plugs into systems marketed by Cisco and Echelon. What are Serious' advantages? The company has been one of the most successful in Silicon Valley in raising money, and had by 2009 pulled in $120 million from investors. Many potential customers, therefore, don't regard Serious as a startup. An SEC search shows that in June the company filed a form with the agency that says it is in the midst of raising $56 million more with the help of Advanced Equities. So far, it has raised $19.8 million of that total.
