75F: a Hot MN Startup, Sparked by Cold MN Winters

“If you can drink tap water and breath the air, say shh”

-Atmosphere, “Say Shh”

We all know what a great state we have in MN. And the band Atmosphere helped capture the “Minnesnowta” secret in their song, “Say Shh”.  So, when the team at CEEM invited 75F to share our story, we felt inspired to riff off this MN tribute song, sprinkling some lyrics in. Feel free to play it in the background: Atmosphere – Say Shh (Lyric Video)

“I’m from Minnesota, land of the cold air.”  

That cold Minnesota air actually set in motion the birth of the concept for 75F. When founder and CEO Deepinder Singh moved into a home; his daughter would wake up at night with her room 10 degrees cooler than the parents’ room, where the thermostat was located. As a self-respecting engineer, Deepinder started a company to fix the problem. 75F Dynamic Airflow Balancing solution was the company’s resulting flagship offering.

That same cold air is also perfect for 75F’s Outdoor Air Optimization (OAO), a solution that makes use of outside air instead of using energy to condition air. With OAO, buildings gain big energy savings with “free cooling days” and deliver improved indoor air quality (IAQ), reducing harmful CO2 levels and providing a healthy environment that helps improve occupant cognitive ability and productivity.

“Build something from that ground.”

In 2012, Deepinder Singh formed 75F in Mankato, MN. The company moved to its current U.S. HQ in Burnsville, MN in 2015.

75F’s vision is to make smart buildings accessible to all, with lower installed costs, speed and ease of use, delivering more efficient, comfortable and productive occupant environments. Only about 10 percent of commercial buildings have automated controls; and, those systems are complex, overbuilt and expensive, with decades-old technology that’s hard to deploy. 75F offers what we call “Building Intelligence in a Box”:  an affordable, quickly-installed and easily-managed building automation system that proactively delivers comfort, air quality and significant energy efficiency, leveraging affordable sensors, connected IoT and predictive cloud analytics.

75F focuses on the commercial buildings market and the supporting ecosystem and stakeholders, from owners to occupants. 75F started with retrofits targeted at smaller buildings served by Rooftop Units (RTUs) with multi-site operators such as restaurants and retail franchises. 75F has since developed and deployed products that serve much larger buildings, (well over 500,000 square feet). We’re going into global HQ offices and winning deals against the largest controls solutions providers. So, we’ve really been scaling!

75F delivers benefits all the way through the value chain, with an emphasis on the occupant experience. We recently integrated with the USGBC’s Arc platform which has a “human experience” score. And, with the 75F Occupant App, you can empower employees and other tenants to tailor their space with zone-specific controls for temperature and lighting, plus preconditioning spaces using geofencing.

Check out the 75F year in review blog post and video for more recent happenings.

“If you ain’t gonna leave ’cause this is where you’re from”

Minnesota’s startup and sustainability communities, organizations and programs have helped raise visibility, endorsement and support for 75F along the way. Founded in 2012, we spent the first few years developing our product suite. 2014 was really an instrumental year, starting with our MN Cup win, hosted by Carlson School Management, and continuing with a Cleantech Open win, both in the Midwest and then nationally in the category of “energy efficiency.”

Also in 2014, Steve Case, former AOL CEO, helped bring visibility when 75F won his “Rise of the Rest” tour stop in Minneapolis. You may have seen the recent mention of 75F in the New York Times story on the Rise of the Rest seed fund: “One example of a company that could be a model for the fund is one that Mr. Case has already invested in: 75f in Burnsville, Minn., which works to make commercial buildings more comfortable and energy-efficient.” Steve Case has also helped facilitate 75F presentations at Google Demo Day, and to members of Congress and the Senate in Washington D.C. earlier in 2017.
 

We continue to build on some of the rich sustainability and clean energy partnerships that started our organization, from working closely with USGBC Minnesota, to collaborating with CenterPoint Energy, Xcel Energy and Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) to identify market opportunities and leverage incentive programs fueling the adoption of smart efficient HVAC and lighting systems.

Another MN company with whom we’re partnering for growth is Daikin Applied Americas. In fact, we’ll be exhibiting with Daikin at the HVAC industry’s big AHR Expo in Chicago this month.

“And the jobs ain’t really too hard to find”

We’re fortunate to have an excellent talent pool,  as 75F is helping a new breed of “clean energy” jobs, including roles in IoT, software development and analytics capacities. Check out the 75F “My Why” video for some 75F employees’ perspectives on why they work at 75F. And, keep tuned to CEEM for a closer look.

75F is happy to be part of the clean energy economy here in “Minnesnowta,” and we look forward to working with CEEM and partners for a cleaner, greener MN.

— Guest Authored by 75F