EUR 4.3M for Bisly’s AI-Powered, Scalable Smart Building Automation Across Europe

• Tallinn-based Bisly raises EUR 4.3M to scale its smart building automation solutions across Europe
• The company provides a modular, AI-driven platform improving efficiency, comfort, and security of smart buildings
• Bisly targets residential and commercial sectors, reducing energy use and supporting climate goals
• Specifically, future plans focus on expanding in Germany, UK, Poland, and enhancing AI and wireless products

This August, Bisly, the Estonian provider of scalable smart building automation solutions, secured a EUR 4.3M funding round led by 2C Ventures. Other participants included the company’s existing investors, such as  Aconterra, Pinorena, founders of Foxway, and SmartCap (Estonia’s well-known state-backed VC fund whose Green Fund invested in Stargate Hydrogen, among others).

Bisly’s Recent History in Milestones

Started in 2018, Bisly is a Tallinn-based company specializing in scalable smart building automation solutions. They provide innovative systems for optimizing energy efficiency, enhancing comfort, and improving security in commercial and residential buildings. Their technology integrates IoT, AI, and cloud-based platforms to offer data-driven insights for smarter, more sustainable building management.

ITKeyMedia covered Bisly’s story several years back. Since then, Bisly has evolved from a promising startup into a market-proven smart building scale-up and technology leader. Two and a half years were focused on intensive development and maturing its core products — from hardware and firmware to software and digital twin architecture. This enabled Bisly to build a fully vertically integrated smart building solution that is modular, open, and production-ready.

The past 18 months, in turn, marked a phase of rapid expansion and operational execution. During this period, Bisly scaled deployments across a number of European countries, won significant tenders, onboarded major construction and real estate partners, and doubled down on manufacturing partners and logistics.

Key milestones include:

• Launching the second-generation product platform with improved modularity and cost-efficiency;
• Establishing key partnerships with building developers, and large-scale integrators across the Baltics, and made our entry into Central European markets;
• Developing an end-to-end commissioning app and self-service portal for installers, drastically reducing deployment time and errors.

This was made possible thanks to the top talent that Bisly gathered across engineering, product, manufacturing, and customer success — people who combine deep industry expertise with a passion for solving real-world challenges. According to the company’s head of growth Filip Mlody, this team has been instrumental in turning ambitious product roadmaps into tangible results, while maintaining the agility and innovation culture that define Bisly.

Keeping Up with Smart Building’s Rapid Evolution

As for the smart building space in general, it has gone through drastic acceleration in market demand and growth in the past several years. The market moved from early adoption to broad acceleration across both residential and commercial sectors, with key drivers including:

• Regulatory pressure: The European Green Deal, Fit for 55 package, and various national energy-efficiency mandates have pushed developers to adopt digital building solutions;
• ESG investment: Real estate and asset managers increasingly prioritize smart infrastructure to meet sustainability and reporting requirements;
• Post-COVID transformation: The pandemic reshaped how buildings are used (e.g., hybrid work), requiring greater adaptability, occupancy analytics, and air quality monitoring;
• Cost pressures: With rising energy prices, smart energy management became a high priority — especially in multi-tenant and commercial properties.

As a result, analyst forecasts estimate annual double-digit growth, with the European smart building market expected to exceed €50B by the end of the decade.

Another crucial transformational factor in this space is AI becoming core, not optional. Artificial Intelligence has shifted from an experimental feature to a core enabling layer in smart building systems:

• Predictive control: AI now powers HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) and lighting systems that adapt in real time based on occupancy, weather, or pricing signals;
• Energy optimization: Machine learning models reduce peak loads and optimize energy usage without compromising comfort;
• Fault detection and diagnostics: AI enables proactive maintenance by detecting anomalies in building systems early.
• Generative AI for facility management: Bisly, for instance, indulged in developing AI copilots for installers, commissioning, and BMS technicians, improving setup speed and reducing human error.

‘In 2021, AI was a “nice to have” — today, it’s what separates next-generation platforms from legacy systems,’ Mr Mlody points out.

The Sought Scalable, Affordable, Integrated Smart Building Solution

In the meantime, buildings account for about 40% of the EU’s energy consumption, with a shameful 75% being energy inefficient. As economic and regulatory pressures rise, the demand for building automation grows, yet scalable and affordable solutions are scarce due to expensive, unreliable legacy technologies.

Apparently, legacy smart building systems remain expensive and unreliable because they’re fragmented, vendor-locked, and built on outdated infrastructure. They require multiple subsystems from different suppliers, involve complex and costly integrations, and offer limited visibility or control to users. Installation is slow, commissioning is manual, and updates are rare.

‘Bisly breaks this model with a vertically integrated, modular platform that combines hardware, software, and digital twins into a single, unified system. It’s open, scalable, and designed for fast deployment — with smart commissioning tools, real-time analytics, and AI-powered automation built in. We eliminate the cost, complexity, and lock-in of legacy systems, making smart buildings accessible at scale,’ Mr Mlody explains.

Essentially, what Bisly provides is an AI-driven automation system that makes smart building technology accessible and affordable. Their cloud-based platform reportedly cuts costs by up to 50% compared to legacy systems by reducing overhead in sales, installation, and setup. The integrated hardware and software solution manages energy use and indoor environments in both new and existing buildings, using patented digital twin technology for real-time optimization. It’s also compatible with third-party devices, offering developers flexibility and avoiding vendor lock-in.

Seamless, Error-Free, and Vendor-Agnostic

Bisly’s significant advantage is its remarkably fast and straightforward integration into a building — at least 2–3 times faster than traditional systems. Thanks to its no-code commissioning tools and automated configuration process, installation and setup are not only quicker but also virtually error-free. The entire system — from hardware to digital twin to software — is designed to work seamlessly out of the box, with no complex integrations or programming required.

No special training is needed for building managers or tenants. Facility teams can manage the system through an intuitive interface, and tenants benefit from a modern, user-friendly app experience.

Importantly, all of Bisly’s core products (controllers, sensors, servers) and software (digital twin, BMS, user and installer apps, etc.) are developed in-house and patented. That being said, the system is open to all third party products and integrations, and clients don’t need to worry about proprietary technology that might otherwise have led to vendor lock-in.

Targeting Residential and Commercial Sectors

It’s important to note that Bisly’s solutions are currently available for residential and commercial buildings, but not e.g. industrial. The Bisly team believes that a major market problem with competitor products is that they design their offering to be universal – automating anything and everything. 

‘Universal tools typically result in universally bad outcomes. We aim to be specific in our software while universal in our hardware. Our Digital Twin is the core beating heart of the system and that only works if it is designed for specific segments – hence why we focus on multi-resi and light-commercial buildings. In the future we see that we will develop specific software sub-platforms for each segment to ensure the cost and reliability targets are met in each of those,’ Mr Mlody notes.

Contributing to Climate and Energy Goals

‘The climate crisis hasn’t paused – 2024 was yet again, the hottest year on record. At a time of geopolitical and economic turbulence, we need practical solutions that work and have been deployed successfully in the field. Our technology helps solve the biggest source of energy consumption: buildings. Saving energy here doesn’t just help the environment, it frees up grid capacity for the next wave of energy demand, from AI data centers to mass-scale EV deployment,’ Bisly’s co-founder and CEO Ants Vill remarks.

While transport electrification leads climate efforts, energy savings from buildings offer faster and more cost-effective emission reductions. Bisly claims that its technology can cut CO2 emissions at up to six times the cost-effectiveness of transport electrification, making it a more efficient solution.

Investor Confidence

‘With buildings accounting for ~40% of Europe’s energy use, smart and scalable building automation technology is more critical than ever. Not only does smart building automation technology help reduce the carbon footprint of the building stock, it also translates into direct savings for the building owners while contributing to Europe’s energy independence at a pivotal moment,’ 2C Ventures’ founding partner at Hendrik Reimand.

He is convinced that what Bisly is developing is the best in class building automation technology backed by an experienced team with a strong execution track record, and his VC firm is humbled and excited to be supporting Bisly in their next chapter and expect many great things to come.

‘We’re proud to support Bisly in scaling their technology across Europe and beyond. Scalable, smart energy management is critical to reducing this footprint and Bisly’s platform brings that much needed intelligence and efficiency to the built environment,’ 2C Ventures’ founding partner Martin Koppel adds.

Focusing on Strategic markets and Doubling Down on AI and Wireless Product Development

According to Bisly, the new funding is meant to support the company’s go-to-market efforts in Germany, the UK, and Poland. These are highly strategic geographies for Bisly due to their market size, strong smart building adoption trends, and proximity to key partners.

Germany and the UK are among Europe’s largest and most mature real estate markets, with strong regulatory and ESG drivers pushing smart technology adoption. Poland, meanwhile, is characterized with rapid construction growth and openness to up-to-date, cost-efficient solutions. Additionally, Bisly has existing and emerging partners operating in or near these regions, making market entry more facilitated and efficient.

Aside from that, the platform is doubling down on AI / ML powered enhancements to our and developing a reliable wireless product line that is integrated with the existing products, in order to satisfy the diverse needs of different buildings.

Bisly’s Smart, Energy-Efficient Buildings and Europe’s Green Future

‘Bisly plays a key role in making smart, energy-efficient buildings the norm — not the exception — across Europe. By offering a fully integrated, modular, and scalable smart building platform, we’re removing the barriers that have historically held the industry back: complexity, cost, and closed ecosystems. Our technology enables buildings of all sizes — not just high-end developments — to reduce energy use, improve indoor comfort, and operate more intelligently,’ Mr Mlody concludes.

In the context of the EU’s energy efficiency directives and climate goals, Bisly is perfectly poised to serve as an enabler for mass adoption. It helps developers, housing associations, and enterprises meet tightening regulations while also adding long-term value to their properties. Ultimately, the platform bridges innovation and accessibility — facilitating cutting-edge smart building capabilities and doing so in a way that aligns with Europe’s push for a greener, more sustainable built environment.