Arbnco plans major US growth after winning Californian deal

A Glasgow-based property technology firm is targeting major growth in the US market after landing a deal with a Californian university.

From left: Benjamin Finkelor, Simon West, David Vernon, Chancellor Gary May, Brian Van Buskirk, Maureen Eisbrenner, Joshua Morejohn, Alex Malm. Picture: Contributed

Arbnco, which uses smart technology to improve the efficiency of buildings, has signed an agreement to identify energy saving opportunities and improve indoor air quality at the University of California, Davis.

It comes as the company opens its Detroit office, the firm’s first stateside location, with a site in California due to follow later this year.

UC Davis’s adoption of Arbnco technologies will be the first US market test for the Scottish firm, and will help the company develop its software for further deployment across the country.

In the first of several projects, the firm’s software will be used as part of a pilot programme funded by the US Office of Naval Research which, if successful, could lead to a demonstration on a local navy installation.

Arbnco said there is “significant potential” for its software to be utilised more widely by other branches of the US military and the US Department of Defence.

Co-founder, chief executive and chairman Maureen Eisbrenner said: “This is a really exciting time for Arbnco, and for Scottish innovation more generally, as we begin to translate our UK success into the US market.

“Globally, $236 billion was spent on improving energy efficiency in 2017, and 59 per cent of that was in the buildings sector, so the opportunity for Arbnco is huge both in the US and the rest of the world.”

The firm, which has a research partnership with the University of Strathclyde, set its sights on the US market after participating in an energy trade mission to New York in 2018, led by Scottish Development International.