Chicago-based real-estate firm JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) has acquired Envio Systems, a German company that delivers sustainable building operations by intelligently integrating data from building systems.

Founded in 2013 to accelerate sustainability outcomes in the built environment, Berlin-based Envio’s hardware and software enable access to and analysis of data from sensors and applications across systems and functions including HVAC, lighting management and energy management. This facilitates predictive decision-making around utilities and operations, health and comfort, and sustainability, regardless of existing installed equipment or technology, building size or age.  

Workplaces have fundamentally changed as a result of the pandemic and the acceleration of global digital transformation. Working in a hybrid mode is now expected by 60% of office workers, and 59% of employees expect to work in a company that supports their health and wellbeing. Flexibility, optionality and real-time responsiveness are required to meet rapidly changing demand and evolving employee preferences.

“We welcome the Envio team into JLL and are excited about our collective vision to enable our clients to manage their real estate more dynamically,” said Neil Murray, CEO of work dynamics at JLL. “Combining Envio’s best-in-class systems with JLL’s expertise, technology and global platform – along with our shared values around innovation and sustainability – will enable us to solve our clients’ problems better, faster and more cost-effectively than anyone else in the industry.”

The Envio technology can form the foundational infrastructure of a differentiated platform for delivering intelligent and sustainable buildings with more flexibility, speed and optionality into how spaces are planned, managed and serviced.

“Our purpose at JLL is to shape the future of real estate for a better world and, with this acquisition of Envio, we are meaningfully accelerating our ability to deliver on that promise for our clients,” said Yishai Lerner, co-CEO of JLL Technologies.

Reza Alaghehband, Envio CEO, added: “We are thrilled to join JLL, which has a strong track record of leveraging and integrating disruptive technology to drive shared value for clients and communities. Our talent, hardware and software, together with JLL’s global scale and integrated capabilities, will accelerate the delivery of smarter, more sustainable workplaces and buildings to our clients globally.”

This acquisition will integrate with and enhance recent investments in technology-enabled service delivery including dynamic occupancy management and dynamic cleaning.

“Integrating the Envio team and technology with JLL’s robust workplace management capabilities will advance our commitment to enabling clients to shape their workplaces and their employees’ experiences to achieve more human-centric, more resilient and more responsible real estate, and create a better world of work,” said Murray.

Founded in the UK in 1783, JLL is a professional services firm that specialises in real estate and investment management. It is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $19.4bn, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of more than 100,000.