FenestraPro, the Dublin-based tech company which provides software applications for the design of more energy efficient building façades, has announced a €1.2 million seed funding round. Investors include proptech VC Pi Labs, Enterprise Ireland, and US AEC software distribution firm Applied Software.

Design environmentally efficient building facades more cost effectively

FenestraPro for Revit©, which is fully integratable with Autodesk’s leading building information modelling Software, enables architects to design environmentally efficient building facades more cost effectively. Since launching the platform in 2017, six of the top 10 global architectural firms, such as Aecom, Gensler, and Skidmore Owings & Merrill have used FenestraPro on large-scale projects such as Aecom’s design for Kuwait’s new international airport terminal. This seed funding brings the total raised since the company was founded in 2013 to almost €2 million. The current round of funding will be used to accelerate the growth of FenestraPro’s client base in the US, Ireland, UK, and Scandinavian markets, as well as for the continued development of a new platform for facade manufacturers. Robert Phinney, director of sustainable design, Page, said: “FenestraPro has been transformational for us, empowering our architects to quickly design and deliver beautiful, functional buildings that also achieve the energy performance requirements that have become part of our ethos at Page. These kind of benefits ultimately make a difference to us in impacting the way that people work and live." FenestraPro is currently working with some of the leading facade component manufacturers and released FenestraPro Linc Beta, which will provide access to live facade component manufacturers data focused around their performance characteristics. Focused on glazing and curtain wall systems in the near term, Linc will enable users to select the most appropriate components based on their environmental performance credentials. According to Simon Whelan, co-founder of FenestraPro, said: “The ability to feed up to date facade material and product information into the workflow in a very intelligent way will now see components selected based on their energy performance characteristics. "This will ensure that architects and other building design professionals have the tools and understanding to design better performing building façades to meet their design intent, and ultimately to design better buildings.” David Palmer, co-founder and CEO of FenestraPro, said: “We are really excited about this juncture in the business. The value of FenestraPro is being realised and accepted by some of the leading firms in the world as we see FenestraPro adopted into their mainstream design workflows to guide them in designing better performing buildings.

'Significant industry experience'

"We are delighted with the continued support of our existing shareholders, who are very behind what we are doing, plus we are looking forward to the same level of support from our new shareholders, who bring with them significant industry experience that will support our collective goals. We will continue to invest in our SaaS strategy which will allow us to expand our offerings globally.” Dominic Wilson, managing partner at Pi Labs, said: “We are at a tipping point with cloud based software now optimising building efficiencies at scale. FenestraPro is leading this charge, and this new capital injection cements Pi Labs’ commitment to supporting innovative proptech enterprises not only in the UK, but globally. “FenestraPro has an outstanding team and is at a critical point of growth and market expansion. With this new funding, we look forward to supporting the expansion of its exceptional client base in Europe and beyond."