START UP NATION: CLIMOTE:Dundalk-based tech company Climote

SOMETIMES, the best way to come up with a new product is to find a solution to an old problem. For start-up Climote, offering remote-control access to home heating could be the solution that sows the seeds of a multi-million euro business.

Climote, an off-shoot of Smart Homes, the home technology company, was established in January 2011, after Smart Homes employees were regularly asked for help with programming home heating devices.

Indeed, research indicates that up to 90 per cent of people never bother programming their heating. And it’s not just about the convenience of setting your home heating – if you could regularly adapt your energy consumption to closely fit your lifestyle, could you keep those rising energy bills in check?

“If there’s a problem, there’s often an opportunity to do something better,” notes managing director Eamon Conway.

Conway joined the group in May 2010 when he was approached by Derek Roddy following the departure from the business of former presidential candidate Sean Gallagher. Together, they now own about 80 per cent of the business, with additional investment coming from a Swiss angel investment group.

It’s Conway’s first involvement in a start-up, after years ploughing the corporate path. In his last role, as managing director of a US multinational’s Irish operation, his entrepreneurial streak came to the fore.

“I became progressively frustrated with bureaucracy and the time it took to make decisions and get things done,” he recalls.

Now, while he misses the resources and back-up he once took for granted as part of a large corporate structure, “the pluses definitely outweigh the minuses”.

But why did he leave the comfort of the corporate world for Climote? “I thought there was a massive market opportunity if we could get it right,” he says.

Indeed, Climote is in good company. In the US, Tony Fadell, famed designer of Apple’s iPod and iPhone, has started his own company, Nest, which is marketing a similar “learning thermostat”.

“It’s a strong vindication of our approach,” says Conway.

Rather than building on the Smart Homes brand to launch its remote-control heating device, investors expressed a preference for a new company, and so it was decided to establish Climote as a stand-alone operation.

“The name is too generic, and if you internationalise it, it could get lost. We wanted a brand name to register and own,” says Conway.

Now, after years of research and development, Climote is launching its product at the Energy Show, taking place at Dublin’s RDS.

The device, which fits over your existing heating panel, costs €399, including installation and VAT, and includes the first year’s annual fee. Thereafter, a fee of about € 3 a month will apply.

The product can be accessed via a smartphone app, a standard mobile phone or a web portal.

So, you can turn on your heating if you’ve been out for the day and want your home nice and toasty before you get back, or if your plans change and you won’t be home when expected, you can turn it off, and save on that energy bill.

“It’s very simple and intuitive to use,” says Conway. “It’s about giving control of their home heating from their pocket”.

Before launch, Climote engaged in trials with Bord Gáis, Airtricity and the ESB to ascertain the levels of savings consumers could benefit from by using the device.

In a trial of 75 users, it found that those who accessed the device remotely at least four times a week saved 30 per cent or more on their energy bills.

Initially, the main sales channel for Climote will be via its website, but for Conway, the focus in the next six months will be on working with the utility companies to try to build relationships.

Given that they have a stated agenda of reducing energy demand, Conway believes there could be a potential for bundling Climote’s product with those of the utility company.

Now the company is gearing up for growth. For Climote, the home heating device represents just the first rung on the ladder, with Conway hoping to add other products in the near future, including controls for home immersions.

The company’s initial focus will be on the residential market, as well as small businesses and sports clubs, in both Ireland and the UK. “Our plan is to get a reasonable percentage of penetration in those markets,” says Conway. But it has plans to go further afield.

“We will focus on Ireland and the UK in the short term, but we do see international potential for this,” he says, adding that its plan is to be a multimillion euro business by 2016.