Smart Joules | AI-Powered Energy Efficiency Solutions

Smart Joules | AI-Powered Energy Efficiency Solutions

Energy Efficiency & Management

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 13 – Climate Action, SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 9 – Industry Innovation and Infrastructure

Company Overview

Smart Joules is an India-based energy efficiency company that helps commercial and institutional building owners reduce energy consumption in HVAC and cooling systems. The company offers energy-efficiency-as-a-service solutions for commercial and industrial buildings, delivered through a combination of engineering design, equipment upgrades, and data-driven operations.

Smart Joules was founded in 2014 by Arjun Gupta, Sidhartha Gupta and Ujjal Majumdar, and helps large buildings and factories cut electricity bills without changing their core equipment by installing smart sensors and controllers that continuously monitor systems like air-conditioning, chillers, compressors, boilers and lighting.

The company’s three core offerings are JoulePAYS, a Pay-As-You-Save subscription model; JouleCOOL, a zero-capex Cooling-as-a-Service offering; and DeJoule, an AI and IoT based Building Operating, Savings and Sustainability platform. It provides cooling solutions through a subscription model, focusing on total cost of ownership, offering design, implementation, operations, maintenance, and optimisation services.

The company has built a client base including Apollo Hospitals, ITC, Blackstone, and Le Meridien, with early growth concentrated in India’s healthcare sector before expanding into hospitality, pharmaceuticals, and industrial buildings. Smart Joules has grown its operations across multiple Indian cities and, more recently, commissioned its first international DeJoule deployment in Indonesia. The company is headquartered in New Delhi, India, and operates as a privately held, venture-backed firm.

Why These SDGs Matter

SDG 7 is directly relevant because Smart Joules’ core business is reducing energy consumption and improving efficiency in commercial building HVAC systems, a direct contribution to affordable and clean energy access. SDG 9 applies because the company develops and deploys proprietary IoT and reinforcement learning technology, an innovation-driven approach to industrial infrastructure. SDG 11 is relevant since the company’s work centers on making commercial buildings, including hospitals, hotels, and pharmaceutical facilities, more sustainable and resource efficient, contributing to more sustainable urban infrastructure. SDG 13 applies because the company’s offerings are designed to cut carbon emissions alongside energy costs for its clients, linking its commercial model directly to climate action outcomes.

Products & Services
  • JoulePAYS: pay-as-you-save energy efficiency subscription model
  • JouleCOOL: zero-investment cooling-as-a-service for HVAC
  • DeJoule: AI and IoT building optimization platform
  • Energy efficiency design and engineering services
  • HVAC equipment installation and retrofit implementation
  • Building operations and maintenance services
  • Real-time equipment monitoring and smart alerts
  • Reinforcement learning based energy optimization algorithms
Business Challenges Solved
  • High HVAC energy consumption in commercial buildings
  • Capital expenditure barriers to efficiency upgrades
  • Lack of real-time visibility into equipment performance
  • Manual, reactive building operations and maintenance
  • Equipment downtime and unplanned system failures
  • Difficulty tracking and verifying realized energy savings
Approach & Methodology

Smart Joules delivers its solutions through an integrated model spanning design, implementation, operations, and optimization. The company delivers efficiency through design, equipment, and data-based operations, rather than selling standalone hardware.

Its technology core is DeJoule, an AI-powered Building Optimization, Savings, and Sustainability system infused with a reinforcement learning algorithm that continually self-learns from user behavior and energy usage patterns to identify opportunities to conserve energy. Using real-time operational data on HVAC equipment, occupancy, heat load, and ambient conditions, DeJoule optimizes operating set points, lowers operating frequencies, and coordinates equipment in real time.

Each installed piece of equipment is governed by DeJoule, which continuously adjusts settings to optimize both performance and energy consumption using IoT technology and proprietary machine-learning algorithms, while offering clients an online dashboard with real-time operational data and transparent accounting of energy savings. The system’s Smart Alerts feature delivers real-time monitoring and prognosis on equipment health via WhatsApp, email, and messages, enabling either autonomous resolution or step-by-step corrective guidance for users.

Commercially, the company structures delivery around outcome-linked contracts. JoulePAYS ties fees to a monthly subscription against verified savings, while JouleCOOL shifts capital expenditure responsibility to Smart Joules itself, reframing client economics around total cost of ownership rather than upfront equipment cost.

Market Position

Smart Joules operates in India’s commercial building energy efficiency market, with particular depth in the healthcare sector. The company has built a client base of over 40 clients across roughly 25 cities in India, with a track record of winning contracts with large hospital chains such as Apollo, alongside clients in hospitality, pharmaceuticals, and industrial real estate.

Its positioning centers on outcome-based commercial models, JoulePAYS and JouleCOOL, that shift capital expenditure and performance risk away from building owners. The company competes in a broader energy analytics and building optimization space that includes other India-based and global providers offering software-only or hardware-only alternatives, differentiating itself through its combined equipment, technology, and service delivery model.

Procurement Considerations
  • Compatibility with existing HVAC and building management equipment
  • Contract structure under pay-as-you-save or zero-capex models
  • Installation timeline and disruption to ongoing building operations
  • Scope of ongoing operations and maintenance service levels
  • Data access and reporting through the DeJoule dashboard
  • Contract duration tied to long-term savings agreements
  • Methodology used to verify claimed energy and cost savings
Funding, Recognition & Ecosystem
  • Series A funding of USD 5 million led by ADB Ventures (2021)
  • USD 8 million debt funding from Denmark’s IFU (2024)
  • Series B funding of approximately USD 10 million led by SBI Ventures’ SVL SME Neev II Fund, Waaree, and Spectrum Impact (2025)
  • Prior investors including Asian Development Bank, Sangam Ventures, Raintree Family Office, and CKinetics Accelerator
  • Selected among Shell’s Top 3 #MakeTheFuture Accelerator participants (2017)
  • International award for a portfolio energy efficiency project from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (2018)
  • Recognized by the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) for pioneering the Cooling-as-a-Service model in India (2019)
Natnavi Analysis

Smart Joules occupies a distinctive position in India’s building decarbonization landscape by combining hardware retrofits, AI-driven building management software, and outcome-linked financing into a single delivery model. This matters because commercial HVAC systems represent a large share of building energy costs in India, and capital constraints often prevent building owners, particularly hospitals and hospitality operators, from pursuing efficiency upgrades on their own.

The company’s revenue model, directly linked to energy saved, means its growth is structurally tied to positive environmental impact, and its early focus on hospitals appears to have built a defensible niche with repeat business from major chains. Its expansion into manufacturing, building automation, and district cooling, alongside continued strengthening of its technology and analytics capabilities, signals an effort to broaden beyond its original healthcare base.

At the same time, the company’s financials show its net loss widened significantly year over year even as operating revenue grew, a pattern common among venture-backed, service-heavy energy efficiency businesses scaling capital-intensive, outcome-based contracts. Its long-term commercial durability will likely depend on how efficiently it can scale its capex-funded JouleCOOL model while maintaining the savings performance its contracts are built around.

Sources & References
Website
Founded: 2014
Company Stage: Growth-Stage Company
Headquarters
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Geographic Presence
Smart Joules operates primarily across India, serving clients in cities spanning the healthcare, hospitality, pharmaceutical, and industrial sectors. The company commissioned its first international DeJoule deployment in Indonesia in 2024, marking an initial step toward operations beyond the Indian market.
Solution Type
Service Provider, Technology Provider
Sustainability Outcomes
Carbon Reduction, Energy Efficiency, Resource Efficiency, Sustainable Infrastructure
Industries Served
Commercial Buildings, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Hospitality & Tourism, Manufacturing
Last Reviewed: July 30, 2026

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