Sentilla powers up with $7.5M for energy management
Sentilla, a company that offers hardware and software for facilities to manage their energy use more efficiently, just brought in $7.5 million in second-round funding to continue product development and expand worldwide.
For now, the Redwood City, Calif. firm gives commercial and industrial companies several ways to determine how much energy they consume and how to cut down. Its Java-based software packages work together to let clients create and run their own energy-saving applications in the cloud. To actually build workable apps, clients have the option of tapping Sentilla’s application engineering team. On the hardware side, it provides a small sensor a little bigger than a dime called the Sentilla Mini that is able to record power usage, humidity and temperature changes, the company says.
In addition to demand-side energy conservation, Sentilla claims its products can be applied to enhance system security and streamline supply chains. The energy package is simply the newest feature, having launched in May 2008. It essentially reports on the size of a facility’s footprint, and helps managers understand where and how it can be reduced — hopefully cutting costs as well. The idea earned it $6 million in first-round funding back in 2006.
Its biggest challenge now may be its crowded field of competition, including Silicon Valley-based Power Assure and Cassatt, Modius, VMWare and Facebook’s tool of choice, SynapSense. On a consumer level, all appear to do similar things, just at different levels. When it comes to data centers, some record energy use at the rack-level, some, like Sentilla, at the equipment level.
Another thing these efforts have in common — they’re all relatively young — kicked off in the last two years. Considering that, Sentilla is keeping pace, with three data center clients already in the bag (to be announced later this month). The company is also exploring applications to measure the heat energy lost in smelting and agricultural operations.
The recent investment round was led by ONSET Ventures and Claremont Creek Ventures.
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About the Author, Camille Ricketts
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