Earlier this week EcoFactor, a San Carlos, California-based company that provides personalized solutions for managing residential energy use, announced that it completed its $5.9 Million Series A round of venture financing. Specifically, the company announced that it obtained $3.5 million in financing led by RockPort Capital Partners. This investment follows $2.4 million in financing led by Claremont Creek Ventures in December 2009. Claremont Creek Ventures increased its investment in EcoFactor as part of the second closing.
The company, which was founded in 2006 and won the grand prize in the 2009 Cleantech Open, said that it will use its Series A funds to support the commercial deployments of its residential energy management service. EcoFactor's software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based solution works with a two-way communicating thermostat and a broadband Internet connection to develop a dynamic, customized heating and cooling strategy that, according to the company, can save homeowners an average of 20-30 percent on their HVAC energy expenditures. In addition to consumer savings, EcoFactor states that its solution offers cost-effective and self-validating energy efficiency, demand response and load forecasting to utilities and energy retailers.
"RockPort has been actively evaluating energy management and smart grid companies for more than five years, but we hadn't found a team which had solved the puzzle," said Abe Yokell, Principal at RockPort Capital Partners, a leading clean tech investor. "EcoFactor's solution delivers tremendous consumer value at low cost while providing opportunities for channel partners to tap into lucrative new income streams. We think EcoFactor will revolutionize residential and small commercial energy management."
"EcoFactor has always focused on saving homeowners hundreds of dollars a year, automatically, without sacrificing comfort, control or convenience. We've spent years developing personalized, active energy management that drives both consumer adoption and smart grid effectiveness," said John Steinberg, EcoFactor CEO. "The fact that we actually raised more than we were originally seeking, and were able to bring on clean tech leaders like RockPort and Claremont Creek, really validates that approach."
"Claremont Creek Ventures is absolutely confident in our support of EcoFactor. Having another leading clean tech VC firm like RockPort come to the same conclusion — that EcoFactor is well ahead of the rest when it comes to offering a complete energy efficiency solution for consumers — only further validates that decision," said Nat Goldhaber, Managing Director, Claremont Creek Ventures.
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