Company: Butlr, Burlingame, CA
Nomination Submitted by: ProsInComms
Company Description: Butlr is the first company to fuse AI and body heat sensing technology to provide insight on how humans use indoor space for living and working while ensuring anonymity.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Computer Hardware - Small
 Nomination Title: Butlr AI Sensors: Wireless, anonymous, sees no one yet senses everyone
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated organization since January 1 2023, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 195 words used.
Founded in 2019, Butlr is an MIT Media Lab spinout that fuses artificial intelligence with body heat sensing technology to build patented sensors and an anonymous people-sensing platform. The magnetic sensors easily mount to the wall or ceiling and are installed in minutes. Using thermal insights, Butlr sensor technology understands subtle movements in a space, accurately discerns activity, occupancy, indoor location, and body posture yet is purposely designed to be incapable of capturing personally identifiable information. Butlr spatial insights are used by some of the world’s largest companies in commercial real estate, senior living, and retail to inform decisions regarding space occupancy and utilization, user experiences, patient and resident safety, compliance, staffing, and ensuring buildings are operating with high efficiency and sustainability.
Since the Butlr platform is built on an open API, data from the sensors can be easily integrated with other platforms and data sources for more comprehensive insight into human activity in the built environment.
With headquarters in Burlingame, California, Butlr also has offices in Boston, Mass. and Tokyo, Japan. The company’s partners include leaders across North America, Europe and Asia with expertise in office and workplace, senior care and smart buildings technologies.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the organization's achievements since the beginning of 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 198 words used.
Achievements since 2023 include raising additional investor funding, bringing the total to $68M to date.
The company’s well known investors include Foundry, Ricoh, Tiger Global, Pacific Alliance Venture, GS Futures, DNX Ventures, Ray Stata, Carrier Global, Qualcomm, and the Founder Collective.
Butlr’s CEO has spoken at The World Economic Forum on building sustainability and using technology to support the growing, aging population.
Additionally, the company has won several influential and competitive awards in the fields of smart city and building technology, including:
- Architizer A+ Award in Smart Building Technology
- Inc 2023 Best In Business in the AI and Data category
- World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer
- World Economic Forum Yes! San Francisco Urban Sustainability Challenge - Top Innovator
- Globe Street Influencers in CRE Tech: Winner
- Red Dot Best of Best
- Core77 Award, Gold and Platinum
- A' Design Award
- iF Design Award
- Fast Company Most Innovative Companies
- 1st Prize Future Cities Contest
- Salesforce Dreampitch Winner: AI for Good
- McKnight’s Best in Tech 2024
- Butlr was National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for a research study on early frailty detection among older adults.
- Launched Heatic 2+ wireless sensor featuring multiyear battery life, higher accuracy, stable mesh performance and fuller integration capabilities.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 234 words used.
By providing never-before-seen insight into the built environment, Butlr improves the human experience in buildings by making it more comfortable, safer, and conducive to the needs of the people in the space.
Before Butlr, capturing insightful, mission-critical and life-saving building data meant compromising privacy by using cameras or not having data due to building regulations. While other technologies capture occupancy data and infer how people use indoor space, Butlr evaluated all of these options and recognized they were limited in their technology capabilities, including ensuring privacy. They were also expensive and bulky, required additional staff to install, and did not significantly lower a building’s carbon emissions. This led to Butlr developing its patented, breakthrough technology to provide fresh insights into how indoor space is used for working and living while reducing a building’s carbon footprint.
As Butlr sensors continue to be installed in buildings all over the world, now representing more than 40 million square feet, the company is able to gather additional insights that inform the features and functions of the sensor and anonymous platform.
Further differentiating itself, in late 2024, Butlr announced the Heatic 2+ sensor. The wireless and anonymous AI sensor features a multi-year battery life, scalability, and real-time ultra precise insights into how people interact in their environments. Data from Butlr sensors is used to transform buildings into adaptive, data-driven spaces that enhance the human experience while improving operational efficiency.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 160 words used.
The following supporting materials provide additional insight into Butlr and its achievements.
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