LMC reposted this
Trane Technologies to acquire BrainBox AI. Now this IS an interesting acquisition. Why? Four reasons. Innovation. I recently posted (link in comments) about people's perceptions of the big incumbents not changing and not adept in change or innovation. This is a big signal of otherwise. Product. Brainbox has a product people like, and the strategic acquisition of ABB's multi-site retail business enhances its alignment with Trane. Brainbox has a product which is marketed and used with sustainability at heart. Over the last few years, Trane has also been making progress in moving in this direction. Smart. Market Expansion. Brainbox AI can't get there on its own, nor can 99% of start-ups. Hence, why you see so many partnerships in the smart buildings space. This acquisition allows Trane to tap into BrainBox AI's customer base and expertise, particularly across various real estate verticals. Vice versa. Trane has the legacy product(s) & relationships. Brainbox AI has the 'innovation' or the 'new kid on the block technology'. With this M&A, it now positions Trane to appeal to customers looking for true 'smart buildings'. Customer value. The acquisition adds immediate value for Trane’s customers. A turnkey AI solution that requires minimal disruption during deployment. And it can be deployed across most, if not all, verticals Trane already operates. That's my thoughts. What's yours? Finally - congrats to Sam Ramadori and team! (Thanks for sharing with me Todd Brinegar) #smartbuildings #buildingautomation
John Gleeson
3d
Nice post lewis. A rinse and repeat story for a number of big punchers, oems and consultants. Definitely think the intent is right and I welcome the efforts here, however have not yet seen the ripples of success from anyone really. Integration is hard from a pure people acquistion, let alone the fundamental functional differences here. Will follow with interest
Elisa Rönkä
3d
This is a really interesting move in the market. I anticipate further consolidation moving forward. The market has not moved with a fragmented approach (also) due to legacy buying behavior, so something's gotta shift. My vote on your poll yesterday was on consolidation so let's see if I was right 🍿
I immediately thought of your post with options, one of them being companies acquiring others. Posted this morning I believe? Maybe we should go to Vegas together? lol
Ben Davis
2d
Im in the Trane Atlanta Office, we discussed this quite a bit in our sales meeting today. We are very excited about it.
Matt Strand
3d
Very interesting play - I have heard mixed market response to Brainbox however I don't think this solution is going away and hopefully over time will improve. Any word on the acquisition cost?
Love this breakdown!
At risk of sounding like a commercial...It's a great time to be doing Smart Services at Trane, building on our legacy of using analytics to do a host of offerings, and our existing partnership with BrainBox AI to deliver Trane Autonomous Controls. Looking forward to seeing this blossom and evolve. https://www.trane.com/commercial/north-america/us/en/services/operate-maintain-repair/connectivity-and-cloud-services/trane-autonomous-control.html
Trane has been the market winner in its messaging to investors around being a decarbonization/climate innovator - you are right that this reinforces that positioning.
Drew Foulkes
3d
Extremely interesting acquisition. The number of times I’ve heard REITs say, “why don’t our existing controls just do that,” in regards to data collection and analytics is incalculable. I’m interested to follow this as it develops.
Previous post -> https://www.linkedin.com/posts/climatetechrecruiter_smartbuildings-buildingautomation-hvaccontrols-activity-7270374245409374208--mcc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop