Use data to help save energy

WattMan automates the operation of electrical assets for large retail chains and BFSI outlets

With great power comes great responsibility and with big companies come bigger electricity bills. But, what if you could save 10-30 per cent operational energy in a pay-as-you-go model? Internet of Things (IoT) start-up Zenatix has launched WattMan that automates the operation of electrical assets for large retail chains and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) outlets.

Founded in 2014 by Rahul Bhalla, Vishal Bansal and Amarjeet Singh, the Gurgaon-based start-up has raised $1.2 million (Rs 8 crore) in a pre-series-A round of funding led by pi Ventures and existing investors.  It has acquired 16 clients, including Google, Tata Teleservices, Mother Dairy, Glaxo SmithKline and Starbucks.

Using advanced machine learning models, WattMan also delivers predictive maintenance alerts, and regulates the time and temperature for signage and air-conditioners respectively in real time.

Deployed at about 500 retail outlets, the asset management product uses data to drive intelligent controls and alerts via email/SMS about anomalies. The cloud-based energy analytics product collects data from several electrical products and breaks these into actionable insights.

It follow a fixed monthly or annual fee and aims to recur revenue of $2 million by mid-2018, of which 15-20 per cent will be from the foreign market.

Although it faces stiff competition from Wipro Ecoenergy, the company claims to be the only one having developed its product’s hardware, firmware and software on its own. The road ahead includes reaching 2,500 sites over the coming year and overcome the challenges it faces with retrofits, as it requires significant capex and installation effort.  Currently a team of 32, it is hopeful of doubling this in the next 12-18 months, and increasing its global clientele across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.