What does a Quebec company – which officially became Irish on Thursday – do in the face of an unpredictable American president? If the most sentimental will focus on the heart, others, like the Montreal commercial air conditioning specialist BrainBox AI, prefer to target… the wallet.
Published at 7:00 a.m.
Money has no smell, the adage goes. But forest fires, yes, will answer the most cynical. Climate change is already being felt across the United States and impacting the finances of building owners. Insurance costs are rising. Energy costs too.
“There is a financial director somewhere who pays these bills,” says Jean-Simon Venne, co-founder and chief technology officer of BrainBox AI.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
BrainBox AI co-founder and CTO Jean-Simon Venne
If we promise to reduce the energy and heating costs of its buildings by 15 to 25%, we are solving a very pressing problem, given the impact of the climate in the United States.
Jean-Simon Venne, co-founder and CTO of BrainBox AI
A saving which will perhaps reduce the possibly higher cost of the technology that either BrainBox or its American customers will have to assume, if Donald Trump carries out his threat of 25% customs tariffs on Canadian imports. We will have to see if this threat will be carried out and how it will apply to BrainBox, which officially passed on Thursday into the fold of the Irish multinational Trane, a transaction first announced in mid-December.
“We were not for sale, but it is a huge player who will help us accelerate our growth quickly and make our technology known, and not only in the United States,” explains to The Press BrainBox CFO Francis Trudeau. Trane is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, but many decisions are made from its offices in Davidson, North Carolina. The company, worth US85 billion on the New York Stock Exchange, however, intends to let its new Montreal subsidiary act fairly autonomously.
“They want us to create an AI development center in Montreal, to benefit from local expertise. The technology will stay in Montreal,” says Mr. Trudeau, who does not see any other major change in BrainBox’s expansion strategy despite the American geopolitical context.
Because another factor comes into play, for any foreign company present in the United States: the States have much more weight in economic decisions than the federal government. If their elected officials do not push back future President Trump, perhaps they will be able to adopt measures to soften his protectionism.
“Already, during Trump’s first term, the states quickly understood that there were not many things he could impose on them. It will probably continue as it has happened,” hopes Jean-Simon Venne. “We can think what we want, companies will continue to want to minimize their costs. »
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Money is obviously not everything. For BrainBox AI, a relatively young technological start-up specializing in artificial intelligence before generative AI caused the phenomenon to expand, the first ingredient is innovation.
Already, its first technology launched almost five years ago helped managers of commercial or multi-residential buildings to optimize the air conditioning and ventilation of their properties. It was so promising that from 2020, the Time Magazine awarded him an innovation of the year award.
In 2024, the company doubled down with ARIA, an automated assistant based on generative AI that takes the effectiveness of its initial technology a step further.
ARIA (Artificial Responsive Intelligent Assistant) anticipates the needs of buildings and proposes measures before they become necessary.
As we often hear on - radio: repeat. THE Time Magazine awarded another of its prizes for innovation of the year, this time 2024. “There are 350 million [aux États-Unis]. Their ability to launch new technologies is completely stupid. That the Time Magazine is holding us back is that we have to do something that has some appeal,” said Mr. Venne in a telephone conversation with The Press.
Something somewhere definitely has some appeal at BrainBox. Its turnover since 2021 has jumped 4,600%. Its technology is present in some 12,000 buildings across eight countries. Its AI optimizes 4500.
Earlier in November, BrainBox took second place in the annual ranking of Canadian companies to watch, a sub-ranking of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50.
Francis Trudeau, its financial director, is already dreaming at least a little of a third prize… “If we can manage enough large buildings in one place, we can help unclog the electricity networks. » BrainBox could have a huge impact on the peak electricity demand that makes distributors like Hydro-Québec shudder.
“We are moving towards network management,” he says. “By optimizing enough towers in Montreal, we can start talking to Hydro-Québec. And we can then have the same discussion with New York, where the energy situation is even more critical. »
And what the State of New York wants, we can bet that Donald Trump will hardly be able to take it away… “It’s just a question of putting this product on the market,” says Francis Trudeau.
