David Westwood, COO of Nomad Energy Solutions, spoke with us about how the scaleup aims to achieve healthy buildings and net zero energy performance by using data derived insights and new technology. Nomad is based in Edinburgh, where the ecosystem and support of the University creates an environment that encourages their growth.
We saw an opportunity to use the internet of things, sensor networks, energy technologies, new processes, and data derived insights to improve the performance of public, commercial and industrial real estate. The aim is to help companies create new buildings with net zero energy performance in a way that provides cost savings for them
Our driving ambition is to address the greatest challenge of our times, CO2 reduction. Our vision is to create a globally scalable, digitalised analytics and control platform for buildings, improving efficiency and accuracy of heating/cooling, while optimising in-door air quality.
The majority of buildings are designed and operated without a strong, evidence-based method. So, a building is designed, built and operated on assumption. And, in almost every instance, the building will actually behave in a different way to the way the designer intended. Data allows us to optimise that process, providing better results at every stage of the chain.
I've had both a technical professional career and an executive career, which lasted about 25 years. I was a CEO at the age of 34 and ran major corporations before deliberately choosing an entrepreneurial life in 2011. I wanted the rest of my career to be about putting belief at the core of what I do, allowing me to work on things I truly feel passionate about.
Our working assumption is that a full uptake of our product could accelerate the transition to Net Zero Carbon by approximately 10 years - saving between 15MtCo2e and 20MtCo2e in Scotland and a substantially greater volume in the UK context.
The support of the DDE programme offered us the luxury of spending time thinking and talking about the business away from day-to-day pressures. It also provided new learning and perspectives, ways to share experiences with other entrepreneurs in the field and helped Nomad become a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Edinburgh. The connections we made gave us unique insights into investors’ thinking and provided introductions to potential funders.
Edinburgh is a low-cost but high amenity location compared to many European capitals, which is truly ideal for startups and scaleups like ours. The ecosystem is second only to London in the UK and is more immediately accessible.
We have raised £240k in seed funding for product and customer development and are currently seeking £1.2million in Series A finance to further develop our algorithms to provide deeper insights for our customers and to build our commercial and service delivery capabilities to meet market pull.
Want to learn more about Nomad Energy Solutions, click below to head to their website.
