JLL, a commercial real estate and property investment firm, announced acquiring virtual engineering platform Hank for an undisclosed amount, according to a press release.
The purchase will bring Hank’s machine learning and AI-powered platform, which helps to manage HVAC, target energy and equipment performance inefficiencies, to the JLL Technologies (JLLT) division of JLL.
“Our vision for the future of buildings is automated, AI-powered, smart and sustainable,” JLLT President Sharad Rastogi stated in the release.
“By joining JLL, Hank’s cutting-edge technology presents a major opportunity to drive efficiencies for our clients today and best anticipate the needs of tomorrow,” he said.
Founded in 2016, Hank’s cloud-based platform uses artificial intelligence to optimize energy efficiency, air quality, maintenance costs and tenant comfort.
The company has been working with JLL on a few applications for a little more than half a year, and will continue to serve its existing customers while assisting JLL clients.
By controlling energy output, reducing the volume of service calls and finding problems before tenants report, the company says it can increase net operating income for real estate investors and help save owners 15% to 30% in energy costs.
“The majority of the industry right now is looking at monitoring applications that tell users what they should do suggestively,” Hank CEO Zachary Denning stated in the release.
“We use full end-to-end control. Hank actually goes into the building and takes over all control of all the HVAC and lighting, and we’re even thinking about starting to explore other technologies that make up building operations.”
In other recent fintech news, Lev and cloud-based investment management provider AppFolio have announced a partnership to enable real-time commercial real estate financing quotes. Plentific also acquired TouchRight to help improve cloud-based property management.