Massachusetts-based Clockworks Analytics, a provider of SaaS building analytics, has closed a $16.1m funding round, bringing the company’s total funding to over $28m.

This financing comes as Clockworks looks to expand its position in fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) for the built environment, with 420,000 connected mechanical assets streaming data every five minutes for clients in over 30 countries.

The intelligent HVAC analytics help building teams identify the highest priority energy, comfort and equipment issues in their buildings, complete with root-cause diagnostics and recommended actions.

Built on a form of AI called an expert system that simulates a human expert’s decision-making, the platform’s diagnostics have been fine-tuned and expanded with each connected building and piece of equipment. Clockworks is leveraging this intelligence to power the next smart, proactive buildings.

This funding will support continued product development, investments in sales and marketing, and expansion of the company’s international presence.

The company’s clients – across healthcare services, life sciences, higher education, commercial real estate, and mechanical and operations service providers – have completed over 40,000 building tasks to correct issues identified by Clockworks’ diagnostics and identified over 286,000 tonnes of carbon savings. Marquee accounts include MIT, Kaiser Permanente, Harvard University, Merck and GK Norway. Clockworks has seen 278% growth in its channel partner business over the past year.

Through the energy reductions and operational efficiencies it provides, Clockworks is positioned to address many of the industry’s pain points, including growing carbon pricing and energy costs in Europe, increasing ESG regulatory requirements, and shifting demographics in building operations that include an aging workforce and shrinking talent pools.

“I’m thrilled with the confidence that our investors are showing in Clockworks,” said Brian Day, co-CEO of Clockworks Analytics. “It’s easy to see how our software is having an effect in reducing carbon emissions and energy costs. Our customers avoided 160,000 tonnes of carbon emissions last year alone.”

Co-CEO Nick Gayeski added: “These new investment dollars give us the capital we need to further accelerate our already strong growth, both in North America and abroad, and to continue to invest in what we believe is the best technology in the FDD market.”

The round was led by Carom Growth Partners with participation from existing investor SE Ventures.

“Clockworks Analytics is one of the biggest innovators for the built environment,” said Matt Tara, managing partner of Carom Growth Partners. “We were impressed by the founders’ vision to transform the built environment and how that has developed into a rapidly growing SaaS platform over the past few years. Going forward, Clockworks Analytics is a global technology platform that can drive a substantial RoI for building owners and property managers. The long-term vision is for Clockworks to be deployed in every building that has a BAS system which could be further optimised.”

Amit Chaturvedy, managing partner at SE Ventures, added: “We invest in category leaders addressing large market opportunities. Clockworks Analytics continues to offer unprecedented analytical insight that enables buildings to digitise and optimise asset performance and maintenance, ultimately driving cost savings and reduced energy and carbon impact. As buildings continue to seek better ways to be energy efficient and cost effective, we see an ongoing opportunity for Clockworks Analytics to be used to mitigate hardware failure and simplify operations while providing best in class fault detection software.”

Clockworks Analytics (www.clockworksanalytics.com) is a smart building intelligence platform that provides data-driven insights into property operations for facility and energy managers. Through its technology, the company proactively identifies inefficiencies and root causes within building systems and prioritises the most urgent tasks for building staff in real time. By creating operational intelligence about a building, Clockworks helps property teams boost the reliability of their buildings’ equipment, while improving air quality and reducing energy consumption and operational costs.