Dive Brief:
- BrainBox AI has acquired the automation division of Turntide Technologies, an electrification technology firm that serves the off-highway, on-highway, e-mobility and industrial machine industries.
- Integrating Turntide’s advanced cloud-based integration and automation systems would enhance BrainBox AI’s suite of building management features, driving a more comprehensive set of AI-powered optimization solutions for the built environment, according to a news release Wednesday.
- “Following a successful transaction, the automation division is poised to make an even greater impact in the market as part of BrainBox AI’s growing array of solutions for the built environment,” Mark Cox, interim CEO at Turntide Technologies, said in the release.
Dive Insight:
Turntide provides smart motors, power electronics controls, energy storage, high-efficiency cooling and automation solutions to customers across a range of industries, offering technologies designed to reduce energy consumption and improve performance, according to its website.
The company’s automation business acquired by BrainBox AI covers more than 1,900 connected buildings across North America and Europe, including Fortune 500 retail and banking companies, per the release.
The acquisition brings a team with “decades of experience building cloud-based integration and automation systems for the built environment,” BrainBox AI said. Additionally, merging Turntide’s automation business with its existing autonomous building platform would allow it to extend its reach in the market, BrainBox AI noted.
“Our latest acquisition sets an important tone for the industry. It marks a significant inflection point where two climate tech innovators, align over their shared mission to fight global climate change,” BrainBox AI CEO Sam Ramadori said in the release.
The acquisition follows a number of recent partnerships and initiatives by the autonomous building technology firm. Earlier this month, BrainBoxAI deployed its AI-driven HVAC technology at Loyola University’s Quinlan School of Business in Chicago, as part of a case study aimed at optimizing and reducing HVAC-related energy costs and carbon dioxide equivalent emissions at the school’s 10-story Schreiber Center. The effort, which included integrating BrainBox AI’s system with WattTime’s marginal emissions data, resulted in a 15% reduction in carbon emissions during marginal emissions events, including periods of renewable energy curtailment on the grid.
In March, BrainBox AI launched a generative AI building management assistant, powered by Amazon Bedrock, aimed at streamlining building management processes across retail and commercial spaces. In September, BrainBox AI signed an agreement with Trane Technologies to provide its autonomous building technology to Trane’s Tracer SC+ cloud-based building automation system, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs for the latter’s multi-site retail customers.
“Growth is a critical driver for success,” Ramadori said. “As Turntide Technologies fulfills its business objectives, we recognize the synergy that this opportunity creates to accommodate their vision and ours. We hope to be able to support their mission to revolutionize the smart motor business with their cutting-edge technology and remain supportive of their future work as we both pursue this incredibly important mission.
