Energy management startup Zenatix raises $1.18 mn

Gurgaon-based Zenatix Solutions Pvt Ltd, an Internet of Things (IoT)-based energy management startup, has raised Rs 8 crore ($1.18 million) led by pi Ventures with participation from existing investor Blume Ventures.

The current round of capital will be used primarily for hiring and also for international expansion over the next six to 12 months, the company said in a media statement.

Founded in December 2013 by IIT Delhi alumni Bhalla, Vishal Bansal and Amarjeet Singh, Zenatix provides an energy management analytics platform that helps building managers save more than 10% on their energy cost using intelligence from real-time data.

The startup's product is a combination of hardware and software, where the hardware includes energy meters, temperature/humidity sensors and a controller. These are used to capture data, which are then transferred to a cloud server. The data is then processed and through a dashboard, building managers are provided an analysis of energy consumptions levels in real time. The Zenatix dashboard also offers alerts via SMS and email whenever there are deviations in consumption levels.

"We have a subscription-based engagement model - the customer doesn't have to pay anything upfront. It is a fixed annual fee whereby the energy efficiency benefit itself outweighs the fee. Additionally, there are multiple other benefits such as improved consumer experience and ability to automatically audit the usage of electricity," Bhalla, who is the chief executive of Zenatix Solutions, said in the statement.

The company says its first product WattMan, launched in April 2016, is addressing energy efficiency problems for large retail chains, banking and financial institutions. The startup offers its product to around 20 customers. WattMan is built over a scalable IoT stack and includes robust connected hardware developed in-house by the company.

In December 2015, Zenatix raised an undisclosed sum in a pre-Series A round from Blume Ventures.

In July 2015, it raised Rs 1.27 crore ($200,000) in seed funding from Snapdeal co-founders Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl, Google Southeast Asia head Rajan Anandan and a clutch of other investors.

pi Ventures was established in August last year by LetsVenture founder Manish Singhal along with entrepreneur and IIT Kanpur alumnus Umakant Soni.

In December 2016, the early-stage venture fund led the round in Bengaluru-based medical wearable devices startup ten3T.