smartengine | wtec gains a key strategic investor with TRILUX

TRILUX makes substantial strategic investment in highly innovative and globally leading Network-Powered Lighting technology company “wtec” | wtec completes further funding round, securing funding for growth into additional regions, verticals, and for further technology development

Bad Homburg, Rhine-Main, Germany / San Jose, Silicon Valley, California, USA, July 2021: wtec is pleased to announce a strategic partnership and investment agreement reached in July 2021 with TRILUX:

TRILUX is further expanding its competence in the area of IT infrastructure and building automation and strengthening its position as a provider of holistic room and building solutions with its investment in a total of 25.1 percent in wtec, a subsidiary of the largest German real estate developer Zech Group.

With the smartengine technology, wtec offers a solution which powers and controls lighting via standard RJ-45 data cabling and IP data communication. This reduces efforts for installation and changes enormously, and seamlessly integrates with building management systems. In addition, using the smartengine technology significantly improves the ecological footprint and the CO2 emission of a building.

“The lighting network acts as a flexible technology carrier that is responsible for communication and control of the other building systems, thus becoming the backbone of digitalization,” explains Joachim Geiger, CSO at TRILUX. “Future-proof lighting provides high-quality and efficient light – and at the same time makes the room and building smart,” said Geiger. The TRILUX lighting portfolio is already fit for the digital future thanks to “Smart Lighting Ready” and can also be implemented quickly and easily as an IP- and PoE-based solution.

“The move to IP communication and secure internet use of building data is the logical and necessary step towards more customer benefits. We are pleased that with TRILUX as a technology leader, we have a strong partner at our side for our growth and our path to the technological standard,” says Dr. Frank Schmitt, Managing Director at wtec and General Manager Smart Buildings at the Zech Group. The fact that the technology concept as well as the cooperation works perfectly has already been impressively demonstrated by wtec and TRILUX – among others with the Handwerkerhaus in Bremen, an innovative timber hybrid building that was erected in the record time of only 10 days.

In addition to its existing group of owners from Zech Group (BitStone Capital – Venture Capital for Real Estate Technology, Art-Invest Real Estate | Homepage, ZECH Building – ZECH Building (zech-building.de)), wtec now gains access to state-of-the-art lighting technology & engineering expertise, a highly qualified global sales team and – with the Trilux Academy – to the leading training platform for lighting technology. In addition, the investment of Trilux for wtec provides funding for further technological developments and the opening up of additional markets.

“Investing in smartengine positions TRILUX in the rising demand for PoE lighting technology and smart buildings and deepens their value chain. With smartengine, TRILUX can offer the most energy-efficient, mature, secure, widely-deployed and feature-rich network-powered lighting management system on the market. Our customers, integrators, installers and lighting partners all around the world are excited about our developments and growth in Europe, Asia and America funded by this investment“ says Daniel S. Massey, Founder and Managing Director at wtec.

About wtec

wtec develops pioneering technology with a clear focus on sustainability. Developers in Bad Homburg / Frankfurt, Rhine-Main and in San Jose, Silicon Valley consistently work on innovative products and solutions that are successfully used worldwide by dozens of leading Blue Chips. Driven by developing for technological innovation, and the benefits of people & environment, wtec contributes to the creation of real value and true building intelligence.

About the smartengine technology by wtec

smartengine is a revolutionary system that uses a fine-mesh sensor network, and real-time data & control to form the basis of a smart building infrastructure. The smart technology uses globally standardized IT infrastructure to transmit power and data. LED luminaires are operated as efficiently as possible, even enabling customized, flexible Human Centric Smart Lighting. Thanks to smartengine, complex building infrastructures are a thing of the past. It is a perfect foundation for an open, secure and connected building and clears the way for the use cases that are important for tenants, operators and investors.

Since 2010, this IP-based lighting control and digital sensor network technology has enabled innovation in building optimization and substantial energy savings in hundreds of buildings around the world. Leading technical university RWTH Aachen studied the impact of smartengine and verified that building energy-savings of more than 30% can be achieved.

smartengine provides buildings with a wired and secure sensor network in connection with modern wireless communication technologies, based on proven, future-proof and scalable standards (RJ-45, Ethernet, Bluetooth). This provides a secure basis for real-time & historical analytics, value adding digital services, and open interfaces to established building management systems for efficient & usage-based building control.

About Zech Group

As a mid-sized international company, Zech Group is able to look back on 100 years’ experience. With its origins in the building industry, the Zech Group today focuses on the entire value chain of a property, operateing in three key business fields – Building, Real Estate and Hotel.

With their diverse projects, the associated and subsidiary companies of the business divisions define the townscapes of metropolitan regions such as Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna. In addition, the group is committed to using modern environmental technologies and is, with this, setting an example for sustainable land and urban development. Zech Group SE has more than 9,000 employees.

Further information: www.zech-group.com/en/

About TRILUX

Please find more information on TRILUX, contact details and press release here: https://www.trilux.com/en/blog/investment-wtec-trilux/.