Turntide’s machine-learning engines are already being used to reduce the carbon footprints – and energy bills – of buildings owned by BMW, commercial real estate firm JLL and Five Guys, as well as cooling systems on farm buildings. dairy products.
The ambitious, perhaps unrealistic goal, is to upgrade all the engines in the world, a Herculean task that, according to the company, would eliminate a quarter of the planet’s carbon emissions.
“We are trying to build a huge company, one that changes the world and has an impact, that will be equal to the big ones,” Turntide CEO Ryan Morris told CNN Business.
Some of these giants are throwing their weight at Turntide: the startup recently announced a $ 80 million investment led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the fund led by Gates that aims to help the planet achieve zero carbon emissions through innovation.
“We see great potential for its technology and we believe that, once widely adopted, it will play a critical role in reducing electricity consumption globally,” Carmichael Roberts, business leader on Breakthrough’s investment committee, told CNN Business for and -mail.
Amazon is using the Turntide engine to reduce its carbon footprint
The problem is that these engines have century-old technology. Turntide says it is using advances in software, machine learning and electronics to design and control engines that are much more efficient.
Turntide says companies that refurbished their old engines with their smart engine reduced the engine’s energy consumption for heating and cooling by an average of 64%.
“Amazon is uniquely positioned to help companies like Turntide Technologies overcome growth challenges not only through investments in the Climate Pledge Fund, but also by becoming a customer,” said Matt Peterson, director of new development initiatives corporate fund by email.
The VC world was ‘burned and scared’
Morris, Turntide’s CEO, said it has been “very good” to receive support from prominent investors like Gates, Amazon and Downey’s Footprint Coalition Ventures.
“It certainly matches the scale of the problem we’re trying to solve,” said Morris. “It is not just money, but they are partners. They help us to enter new markets. And getting initial customers as referrals is extremely critical.”
Turntide says it has already raised $ 180 million in financing. Investors’ appetite for clean energy solutions, especially for hardware, has changed dramatically, says Morris.
“The VC world has been burned and marked by clean 1.0 technology,” said Morris. “In the past six months, the capital market has really awakened to the opportunities of clean technology 2.0.”
The timing was critical for Turntide, which was founded in 2004 and needed more capital to fuel its next level of growth.
“Our funding has been extremely challenging for our entire history, until very recently,” said Morris. “It was like crossing the desert. We managed to cross it, while others failed.”
Increasing the scale, from cows to EVs
But even with Turntide’s survival, it now needs to increase dramatically. It is the biggest obstacle that the startup faces today.
“The company will face the usual technology development hurdles,” said Roberts, the executive on the Gates fund’s investment committee, “as well as the challenges of scale deployment. However, we feel that the technology and the benefits that it brings can provide a path to success. “
The initial focus is on upgrading the HVAC engines used to power commercial buildings and to overhaul the systems used to keep cows cool on dairy farms.
“It turns out that it is very important for milk production to keep the cows very happy,” said Morris.
Morris said Turntide plans to announce a push for electric vehicles soon after a wave of hires in the EV space last year.
“We’re past the point, ‘Does it work or not?’ There are no fundamental barriers that we need to overcome, “said Morris.” Now it’s about how to scale our impact – worldwide. “