Verdigris Technologies

Verdigris Technologies is a venture-backed[1] artificial intelligence technology start-up founded in 2011 by Mark Chung, Thomas Chung, and Jonathan Chu,[2] headquartered in the historic NASA Ames Research Center in the heart of Silicon Valley. Verdigris is an AI-powered, IIoT cleantech platform for energy management in commercial and industrial smart buildings. Verdigris' award-winning technology combines proprietary hardware, AI, and software applications to deliver insights about building operations and enable energy savings.[3] In 2017, Fast Company named Verdigris one of the world's 10 Most Innovative Companies in Energy.[4]

Verdigris Technologies
IndustryEnergy management
Founded2011 (2011)
FoundersMark Chung, Thomas Chung, Jonathan Chu
Headquarters
United States of America 
Key people
Mark Chung (CEO)

Based on the concepts of Nonintrusive load monitoring, the Verdigris energy platform is able to monitor every electrical device in a building by means of the electrical feeds coming off of the building's circuit panel. Verdigris provides data, actionable insights, and automation to help commercial facilities managers increase the energy efficiency of their buildings. Areas that Verdigris works to impact include: reducing power usage during peak hours; identifying motor problems that could be using excess energy; and detecting equipment faults before they occur.[5]

Verdigris' customers include hotels, corporate offices, agriculture and food producers, and manufacturers. Early customers included the City of San Jose, Autodesk, and Netflix.[6] Today, Verdigris has over 500 systems deployed[7] across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia.[8] Notable customers listed on their website include: Jabil Circuit, Hyatt Hotels, ARM, ABB, Nvidia, Schneider,[9] The W Hotel San Francisco (Starwood Hotels),[10] The Orchard Hotel in San Francisco,[11] and The Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC.[12]

To date, Verdigris has raised about $15 million in venture funding.[13] Verdigris raised $6.7 million in an October 2016 venture capital round that was led by contract manufacturer Jabil as well as Verizon Ventures.[14]

Products

The Verdigris platform consists of patented hardware, software, and AI algorithms and is offered to the market through the following product categories:

Energy Metering & Analytics

The 5th generation of the Verdigris hardware product was formally launched on August 30, 2016 with a live demo at the Jabil Blue Sky Center in San Jose, California.[15] According to Engineering.com, “[this generation] differs from their previous hardware because it is more straightforward to install, and it has an integrated cellular radio. Previous equipment from the company required an attachment to an external data connectivity system.”[16] According to the company's website, the hardware takes 30–120 minutes to install and the connectivity is provided via 4G/LTE through a partnership with Verizon Wireless.[17]

Automation

In addition to hardware and energy intelligence software, the company has also moved into automated building optimization through automated demand management. The company's Adaptive AutomationTM product uses energy data gathered from the hardware combined with historical usage trends and weather data to predict future usage, and an algorithm enacts controls in the building to adjust usage in a way that reduces energy consumption and costs. The company cites one customer, Grand Hyatt San Francisco, that was able to save 20% of the controlled load and earn a 40% ROI.[18]

Forecasting & Alerts

In 2019, Verdigris announced a partnership with the multinational electrification company ABB to offer its machine learning algorithms to ABB customers. "The Energy Forecasting app will enable users to reduce their electricity bills by reducing peak demand charges. The Intelligent AlertsTM app uses machine learning algorithms to help customers better manage their assets, identifying underlying issues before they become problems."[19]

API

Verdigris offers an API that enables customers to integrate energy data into enterprise databases or other building energy management systems or data analysis tools.

Services

“We provide analytics and workflow automation to 24/7 facilities teams to improve operational efficiency, reduce equipment downtimes, and save on energy, delivered as a SaaS,” said co-founder Thomas Chung to TechCrunch in March 2016.[20]

Verdigris smart sensors clamp onto electrical circuits to track a building's energy consumption and sends the data securely over Wi-Fi or Verizon 4G/LTE to the cloud. Verdigris claims that its patented sensors track energy through an always-on AI that consumes more detailed information than any other solution. Its sensors take hundreds of millions more data points than utility smart meters every hour. This enables Verdigris AI technology and algorithms to “learn” a building's equipment over time. It tracks energy output down to the microsecond and has equipment-level data.

Verdigris forecasting for demand management uses a deep learning recurrent neural network model. It reads a building's energy usage in real time, and, combined with weather or building occupancy, produces a probability distribution for estimated power consumption (kW).

The Verdigris system is certified for use in 38 countries including the United States, the European Union (32 countries), China, Malaysia, Mexico, India, Canada.

Company history

Verdigris co-founder and CEO Mark Chung came up with the idea for Verdigris when he returned home from vacation to a massive electricity bill. The local utility could not provide Chung with an itemized utility bill to show where he spent the extra electricity. Chung bought inexpensive kilowatt meters, hacked them to be wi-fi enabled, and built an electrical map to monitor every appliance in his house. He found the problem, a broken pool pump, and thought of a business idea to map commercial buildings that use a lot of energy.[21]

Verdigris participated in the Stanford accelerator, StartX, and as one of the StartX Notable Companies was invested in by Stanford University. Verdigris was also one of the 10 inaugural winners of the Founder.org competition and invested in by Founder.org Capital. NASA was also an early backer of Verdigris, and the two organizations have collaborated on projects including the Sustainability Base at Ames Research Center with the ultimate goal of providing energy intelligence and management to space habitats.[22] Verdigris is headquartered at the NASA Ames Research Park in Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, California.

In December 2016, GreenBiz called Verdigris one of the ten companies to watch in the area of smart buildings.[23] CBInsights named Verdigris to the 2017 AI 100 list, recognizing the 100 most promising private artificial intelligence companies globally.[24] In 2017, Fast Company named Verdigris one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies in Energy.[25]

Name

The name ‘Verdigris’ references the green patina that forms on copper oxidized by exposure to water and air. Copper is used to make electrical wiring and components for the production and distribution of electricity. “Copper is the elemental infrastructure of every single building in the world, what all of our electricity runs on,” said Chung. “And what we have as a company mission is this desire to expose that to the world and make it green."[26]

Awards & Recognition

Verdigris has won numerous awards for its technology and has been featured in several leading news outlets.

  1. PRI: A Silicon Valley engineer is on a quest to green the world by making buildings smarter[27]
  2. KQED: California Startup Saves Companies Millions and Combats Climate Change[28]
  3. CBInsights: AI 100: The Artificial Intelligence Startups Redefining Industries[29]
  4. Fortune: Here are 50 Companies Leading the AI Revolution[30]
  5. GreenBiz: How Internet of things startup Verdigris gives buildings a voice[31]
  6. Engineering.com: Space Age IoT Technology for Energy Management and Fault Prediction[32]
  7. Environmental Leader: How Effective IoT Strategies Can Save Energy[33]
  8. Fast Company: Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Energy[34]
  9. Frost & Sullivan: 2018 New Product Innovation Award in Energy Management[35]
  10. EPRI Journal: Buildings with Brains, Billions in Savings[36]
  11. McRock Capital: IIoT Entrepreneur of the Year Award[37]

References
  1. "Verdigris Technologies". Crunchbase.
  2. "Mark Chung". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  3. "Customer Success | Verdigris". verdigris.co. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  4. "Verdigris". Fast Company. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  5. "Product | Verdigris". verdigris.co. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  6. Downes, Larry. "Big Bang Disruption: The "Internet of Things" Takes off Gradually, Then Suddenly". Forbes. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  7. "Verdigris". Fast Company. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  8. Verdigris. "Verdigris Launches Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence IoT Solution For Large Commercial Buildings". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  9. "Customer logos". Verdigris.co. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  10. "Customer Success | Verdigris". verdigris.co. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  11. Carlino, Nicole (December 15, 2016). "AI makes sense of energy management for hotels" (PDF). Hotel Business Design. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  12. "Building Sensor Monitors Power Usage, Device by Device". spinoff.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  13. "Verdigris". Fast Company. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  14. Clancy, Heather (2016-12-19). "10 companies moving up in smart buildings". GreenBiz. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  15. "Verdigris Launches Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence IoT Solution For Large Commercial Buildings". PR Newswire.
  16. "Monitoring the Energy Consumption of Large Commercial Buildings with AI and the IoT". Engineering.com.
  17. "Verdigris Hardware". Verdigris.co. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  18. "Grand Hyatt Automates Savings With Verdigris" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  19. "ABB uses AI to revolutionize energy management". new.abb.com. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  20. "Verdigris takes $9M to power its AI energy consumption analytics b2b startup". TechCrunch.
  21. "A Silicon Valley engineer is on a quest to green the world by making buildings smarter". Public Radio International. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  22. "Building Sensor Monitors Power Usage, Device by Device". spinoff.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  23. Clancy, Heather (2016-12-19). "10 companies moving up in smart buildings". GreenBiz. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  24. "The AI 100". Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  25. "Verdigris". Fast Company. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  26. "A Silicon Valley engineer is on a quest to green the world by making buildings smarter". Public Radio International. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  27. "Valley of Silicon", Making Silicon Valley, The MIT Press, 2005, doi:10.7551/mitpress/4394.003.0009, ISBN 9780262322591
  28. "California Startup Saves Companies Millions and Combats Climate Change". KQED. 2017-01-24. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  29. "Verdigris Makes AI 100 List". www.iotevolutionworld.com. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  30. "50 Companies Leading the Artificial Intelligence Revolution". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  31. Clancy, Heather (2017-03-16). "How Internet of things startup Verdigris gives buildings a voice". GreenBiz. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  32. "Space Age IoT Technology for Energy Management and Fault Prediction". www.engineering.com. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  33. "Effective IoT Strategies Can Provide Energy Efficiency Savings". Environment + Energy Leader. 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  34. "Verdigris: Most Innovative Company". Fast Company. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  35. "Energy & Environment Global Research Update 2018" (PDF). Frost & Sullivan. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  36. "Buildings with Brains, Billions in Savings". EPRI Journal. 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  37. "McRock Capital IIoT Awards 2019" (PDF). McRock Capital. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
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