Cutting Costs And Carbon: Tether's Data-driven Approach Transforms Building Efficiency

Building performance innovator Tether has closed a $1,5m funding round through Snowball Effect to expand to Australia, the UK and Europe, as it rapidly approaches the deployment of its 10,000th sensor in buildings throughout New Zealand. Trusted by brands including Westpac, Douglas Pharmaceuticals, BRANZ and Kainga Ora to provide real-time monitoring of their built assets, Tether believes in the power of data to reduce the negative impact buildings have on our health, our pockets and our planet and has its sights set on extending how customers use building data to cut cost and carbon while improving the future of work

In a world where energy supplies are unpredictable, costs are climbing, and regulations are becoming more stringent, cutting cost and carbon from buildings and ensuring they provide a healthy place to work has become a key focus for savvy facilities managers.

“To date, creating a unified view of a building’s performance has involved multiple different technologies including occupancy sensing, air and water quality monitoring and smart metres for electrical consumption; with none of these technologies integrating into a cohesive and interconnected platform,” comments Brandon Van Blerk, Founder and CEO of Tether. He adds “Without this understanding, it’s simply impossible to gauge where you’re at or to aim for improvement.”

Founded in 2017, Tether is the first New Zealand innovator (and amongst only a handful globally) to offer facilities managers all of this functionality in a single platform. Its locally manufactured sensors are as simple as a smoke alarm to install and provide instant, accurate insights that include performance benchmarks, predictive maintenance reports and suggested actions that could help optimise the use of a building’s heating, cooling and lighting systems to reduce cost. Tether also helps ensure that any upgrades to a building will achieve their intended cost and carbon reduction and looks out for occupancy health by proactively flagging air and indoor environmental quality hazards.

How Tether works

Tether manufactures a series of sensing devices that don’t need wifi connection and are self-powered through energy-harvesting. These devices act as mini radio broadcast stations to communicate in real-time to a cloud based analytics platform.

“Unlike solutions that monitor a single source of data, Tether has been designed to integrate and analyse multiple datasets to provide insights that acts as a ‘facilities team coach’. This takes the guesswork out of optimising a building’s systems so that what a team envisioned for its performance is easier to achieve,” says Brandon.

Set to disrupt the future of work

Having cornered what the company describes as the lion’s share of large building monitoring services in New Zealand and with early customers in Spain, Tether has also announced its expansion to Australia, the UK and the rest of Europe next month through a partnership with Ricoh and their workplace experience platform, RICOH Spaces, which companies use to digitise everything from space booking to visitor management and wayfinding in order to understand space utilisation.

Tether’s integration into the platform will provide users with cutting-edge functionality that will help enhance building occupant experience. “We believe the future of work will be driven by data. Not only will people want to book meeting rooms online; but they’ll also want to know that the air quality in those rooms is sufficient for being as productive as possible. Team leaders won’t only want to know how many people come into work each day, but also which areas of the office aren’t being utilised efficiently or are over-crowded. Together, Tether and Ricoh will provide an interactive building management system that is as engaging as it is effective,” comments Brandon.

The partnership enhances Tether's capability to sell its products and services across the EMEA and APAC regions through the Ricoh channel by adding over a dozen offices to its global sales team.

Change is up to all of us

The impact our built environment has on the planet is gaining increasing attention in the media, with regulation closing in on how corporates report their impact. Brandon adds that Tether can also predict how well a building will fare when it comes to NABERS - an independent tool for rating the energy efficiency of office buildings. The tool also simplifies ‘Scope 2 & 3’ emissions reporting by providing real-time data on energy consumption that, when combined with emissions factors and a building’s location, makes it easier to report on a building’s cost and carbon impact.

“Our funding round and expansion into new markets signify more than just growth — they represent our commitment to driving a more sustainable, data-driven future of work. By leveraging real-time data, Tether empowers organisations to significantly reduce their carbon footprint and enhance workplace health. We’re pioneering a future where buildings not only meet but exceed their performance goals,” concludes Brandon.

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