Axiom Cloud, a company that develops software solutions to solve retail grocery’s biggest energy and maintenance problems, today announced that it has raised a $1.1M seed round of funding led by Ulu Ventures, with participation from Powerhouse Ventures, Correlation Ventures and others.
Funding will be used to accelerate adoption of Axiom Cloud’s Virtual Technician and Virtual Battery apps, which make commercial refrigeration more economically, environmentally, and operationally sustainable.
“There is a huge opportunity to bring intelligence to the world’s refrigeration systems”, said Clint Korver, Managing Director of Ulu Ventures. “We were incredibly impressed with the resilience and fortitude shown by the entire Axiom team in the face of adversity throughout 2020 and Ulu is looking forward to playing a part in Axiom’s success.”
Users of commercial refrigeration systems have not taken advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to help solve problems such as rising energy costs, technician shortages, aging equipment, and increasingly strict refrigerant regulations. With its autonomous Virtual Technician and Virtual Battery apps, Axiom Cloud leverages existing controllers and sensors to transform the way commercial refrigeration systems are powered, operated, and maintained.
“Software is transforming retail grocers’ relationships with their refrigeration systems” said Amrit Robbins, CEO of Axiom Cloud. “We are already helping four major North American grocery chains reduce their costs, become more sustainable, and eliminate maintenance headaches in dozens of stores, all with a payback period of 6-12 months. This investment will enable us to accelerate hiring so we can scale to hundreds of stores in the coming months.”
Axiom Cloud’s Virtual Technician application lowers operating costs and reduces unplanned outages for owners of commercial refrigeration systems. It does this by leveraging thousands of existing data streams to predict catastrophic equipment failures before they occur, reduce refrigerant leaks, and improve system energy efficiency over time.
“When we first deployed Axiom’s Virtual Technician app, it surprised us by predicting a compressor failure that would have caused a refrigeration outage if it had gone unnoticed,” said Brad Person, President of SEER2. The company, which provides energy and maintenance services to retail grocery chains such as Whole Foods Market and BJ’s Wholesale Club across the US, was an early adopter of Virtual Technician. “Now, we are deploying Virtual Technician in as many stores as we can so that our same team can provide high-quality service at 10x more stores,” continued Person.
Axiom Cloud’s Virtual Battery application lowers customers’ energy bills and generates new revenue just like an on-site battery would, but without the expensive lithium-ion hardware. It does this by safely transforming frozen inventory into an intelligent thermal battery.
“Refrigeration, which to date has been characterized by limited flexibility and unchecked leakage of refrigerants with thousands of times the global warming impact of CO2, is a tricky sector to decarbonize,” said Emily Kirsch, Managing Partner at Powerhouse Ventures. “We’re thrilled to partner with Axiom Cloud because they have the right team and expertise to make an outsized impact in this space.”
Learn more at www.axiomcloud.ai