US-based real estate and investment management firm, JLL, has acquired Hank, a virtual engineering platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Hank’s system applies machine learning and AI to solve many of the commercial real estate (CRE) industry’s largest operational challenges, including HVAC programming inconsistencies and energy and equipment performance inefficiencies.
Its cloud-based platform optimises energy efficiency, air quality, maintenance costs and tenant comfort—ultimately delivering increased net operating income (NOI) to real estate investors.
Sharad Rastogi, president at JLL Technologies (JLLT), a division of JLL, said: “Our vision for the future of buildings is automated, AI-powered, smart, and sustainable.
“By joining JLL, Hank’s cutting-edge technology presents a major opportunity to drive efficiencies for our clients today and best anticipate the needs of tomorrow.
JLL’s acquisition of Hank represents a continued commitment to drive sustainability and embrace technology to shape the future of real estate for a better world.”
Hank was co-founded in 2016 by Zachary Denning and Jerremy Spillman, who have a wealth of experience in engineering and the sustainability space, managing teams and growing significant revenue across multiple sustainability-focused companies.
Denning, CEO of Hank, commented: “Having worn many hats in the building management space, we uniquely understand the opportunity to drive impact through smart building technology.
“We are thrilled to be part of JLL, which has a strong track record of applying technology, like Hank, to solve real estate’s most complex challenges. With JLL, we will have the resources to scale faster to advance healthy, sustainable buildings worldwide.”
Hank works by plugging into an existing building automation system (BAS) and developing a “digital twin” of the building in the cloud to start learning how it operates.
Hank is able to generate a full systems audit of the building, detail where it can make efficiency adjustments, and action against it automatically, autonomously and remotely, said JLL.
Hank will operate within JLLT, and Denning will serve as director of sustainability product.
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