.png "https://thebusinessfrontier.com/")
The funding will help the startup build ultra-efficient modular air-conditioning units designed for commercial real estate
December 16, 2024 | Staff Reporter | Australia | Facilities Management
Air-conditioning energy and emissions reduction startup, Conry Tech, has raised $1.6 million in a pre-Seed round led by Bandera Capital with support from Kiwi VC Pacific Channel. The Melbourne startup was cofounded in 2020 by long-term collaborators Ron Conry and Sam Ringwaldt, both experts in developing HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) products that cut CO2 emissions and help the facilities management industry. The startup has now secured more than $8.7 million in equity capital and government grants, and is now looking forward to a larger seed round in 2025.
Conry has been in the industry for more than five decades and invented the world’s first modular chiller, and the world’s first oil-free, magnetic bearing centrifugal compressor, both industry-changing innovations. Having saved more than a gigaton of Co2 emissions, it is now focused on reinventing air-conditioning to make comfort sustainable, slash emissions, conserve energy and decarbonise the built environment.
The funding will help Conry Tech grow its team to build the ‘Bull Ant army’, a small, incredibly powerful, and ultra-efficient modular air-conditioning units designed for commercial buildings and data centres. Conry and Ringwaldt believe Bull Ants can be Australia’s answer to one of the world’s biggest pollution problems, with refrigeration and aircon chewing up around a quarter of Australia’a 25% power generation.
Ringwaldt, Conry Tech’s CEO, said Bull Ants could cut the energy use and emissions in a commercial building’s air-conditioning by 40%. “We started with a blank piece of paper, with a mission to revolutionise air-conditioning, knowing that approximately 10 new air-conditioners will be installed every second for the next three decades,” he said. “The result is a modular system that cuts AC electricity use by 40%, which is an essential step for countries like Australia as they transition to renewables and focus more efforts on removing excess energy from the grid. It is also designed to appeal to emerging nations which have never used much AC, where adoption is accelerating exponentially now. We want to build a Bull Ant army, and we will begin installing our first units in Australian commercial spaces next year.”
Bandera Capital invests in tech startups tackling the net-zero transition. Partner Jeremy Atkin said the founding team’s track record building multi-million-dollar businesses that have already successfully cut emissions. “Truth be told, I had never really given much thought to air-conditioning energy use and emissions until I met Conry Tech,” he said.
“Once I did some research into the sector, I realised it’s a huge slow-moving industry that was ripe for disruption. I was convinced that Conry Tech had incredible potential. We believe in backing hardware startups because climate change is ultimately a physical problem that requires physical solutions. We want to enable Conry to disrupt the market and significantly reduce commercial building emissions.” Ringwaldt further added that they are now exploring options for a small top up of the round with final investors before the end of the year, with significant interest from the US.
Conry Tech has several field trials lined up for 2025, and is looking for more test-sites for its technology, which can be retrofitted into existing properties or deployed in new-build commercial properties.
For more news from facilities management companies, click here
