By Riley Kaminer
Your AC sucks. Sucks a lot of energy, that is. Air conditioning is the lifeblood of South Florida – refrigerant the sweet nectar that enables the tropical lifestyle we enjoy.
All of that has been true for the better part of a century. Not for much longer though, if Boca Raton startup Blue Frontier has anything to say about it.
The company, under the guidance of CEO Daniel Betts, is revolutionizing the way we cool our buildings. Its proprietary system, developed in part through Betts’ knowledge as a PhD in mechanical engineering, enables users to separately control temperature and humidity. That’s important because humidity is what often makes us uncomfortable. But in current systems, the only way to reduce humidity is to crank up the AC – resulting in chilly environments.
Now, the Blue Frontier team told Refresh Miami that they have raised a strategic funding round of $16.9 million from a large corporation (the exact details are still under wraps for now). This is in addition to the $20 million Series A led by Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the 2150 Urban Tech Sustainability Fund, and VoLo Earth Ventures. Modern Niagara, Blue Frontier’s commercialization partner, also participated in that round, which was made public in July 2022.
Meanwhile, Blue Frontier has recently received notoriety in the MIT Tech Review as one of the top startups to watch last year, in addition to placing as a finalist in a contest from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute that featured thousands of products in the space.
“Air conditioning is a major consumer of electricity in our region,” said Betts. For buildings, AC expenses can be one of the biggest operational line items. Blue Frontier’s system, which aims to hit the market in 2025, is twice as efficient as conventional AC.
Blue Frontier’s proposed business model is also innovative. Currently, incentives between building owners and renters are misaligned – with owners wanting to purchase cheap but inefficient units, whereas renters are looking for the most efficient units possible. Instead, Blue Frontier will install its units at a low (or no) cost. Then, tenants will be on the hook for maintenance and service costs; but Betts says that in most cases, these costs will be lower than what they’re currently paying.
Unlike software-based startups, Blue Frontier has been contending with the laws of physics to make their product come to life. Layered on top of that, the product must ultimately be able to be produced at scale and without mistakes. Needless to say, this has required a significant amount of R&D – although this phase is winding down. You can already find some of Blue Frontier’s units out in the wild, with a host of strategic customers already using them and analyzing their effectiveness.
The company now has 27 employees, with Betts signaling growth to 40 employees by year’s end. “What’s happened is that all these hypotheses that underpin the existence of Blue Frontier are becoming real,” asserted Betts. “The technology works, and we are demonstrating enormous savings with the systems, plus better air conditioning quality overall.”
Photo at top of post: Daniel Betts showcases one of Blue Frontier’s Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems for industry leaders in the South Florida region.
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- Blue Frontier is on a mission to keep us cool, while being kind to the climate
- Blue Frontier raises $20M Series A for climate-friendly air conditioning tech
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