Ultra-efficient heating and cooling Australian start-up, ConryTech, has announced the closure of a pre-seed round led by Bandera Capital alongside Pacific Channel.
The strategic investment takes Conry Tech’s total funding to $8.7m, and will support the founders’ mission to eliminate another billion tonnes of CO2 emissions caused by air-conditioning.
Conry Tech is now growing its team to build its ‘Bull Ant army’, its small, incredibly powerful, and ultra-efficient modular air-conditioning units designed for commercial buildings and data centres. The company believes Bull Ants can be Australia’s answer to one of the world’s biggest pollution problems. The DCCEEW estimates that Australian refrigeration and aircon used ~25% of all electricity generated in Australia last year, and the Bureau of Meteorology predicts that 2024 will be one of the hottest summers on record. Bull Ants can cut the energy use and emissions of a commercial building’s air-conditioning by 40% – which is vital as countries aim to reduce cooling related emissions. They are radically different to traditional commercial air-conditioning units that take up lots of space, are expensive to maintain and consume huge amounts of power.
“As we approach another record-breaking summer, the Bull Ant could be Australia’s answer to one of the biggest, yet most easily ignored polluters on the planet,” said Sam Ringwaldt, Conry Tech CEO.
“We started with a blank piece of paper, with a mission to revolutionise air-conditioning, knowing that approximately 10 new air-conditioners will be installed every second for the next 3 decades. The result is a modular system that cuts AC electricity use by 40%, which is an essential step for countries like Australia as they transition to renewables and focus more efforts on removing excess energy from the grid. It is also designed to appeal to emerging nations which have never used much AC, where adoption is accelerating exponentially now. We want to build a Bull Ant army, and we will begin installing our first units in Australian commercial spaces this year.
Conry Tech has several field trials lined up for 2025 and is looking for more test-sites forits technology. These can be either retrofits into existing properties or deployments into new-build commercial properties, for companies trying to reduce their energy bills, slash their emissions, or replace their legacy AC units.
The company is exploring options for a small addition to the round with final investors before 31st Dec, with significant interest from the USA where there is amuch bigger appetite for hardware investment, and where Conry Tech was just awarded the startup of the year in the building sector by Trellis in October.
WHY WE INVESTED:
Market demand, the track record of the team and the strength of the global IP/patents supporting the technology were all factors in Pacific Channel’s decision to invest in Conry Tech. Pacific Channel Associate Partner, Dr Ashwath Sundaresan commented on the investment:
Market Demand:
We’ve been tracking the heating and cooling sector for a while now and believe it presents a significant market opportunity, particularly as buildings seek to reduce their environmental impact. Air conditioning accounts for a substantial portion of energy consumption, making energy-efficient HVAC systems a critical element in sustainable building design. Our ongoing analysis of this sector confirms its considerable growth potential
Strength of Team:
We’re impressed with the founding team’s track record in the air conditioning sector and between them they bring strong engineering, manufacturing and sales skills along with proven ability to build companies and commercialise technology, most notably in Turbocar, an oil free compressor which was acquired by Danfoss and is now used in 60% of all HVAC units.
Global IP/Patents:
Another key component we looked at was the technology and the strength of the global patents.
