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FORNY20-FORNY2020

Nabla Flow - Revolutionizing the Engineering Consultancy Industry through Smart Wind Analysis Tools

Alternative title: Nabla Flow – revolusjon av rådgivende ingeniørvirksomhet gjennom smarte vind analyse verktøy

Awarded: NOK 3.1 mill.

Project Manager:

Project Number:

322798

Project Period:

2021 - 2022

Funding received from:

Organisation:

Nabla Flow's mission is to simplify and advance the way architects, product designers, city planners, and the whole engineering consultancy industry assess wind conditions and cater to undesired effects when designing new products, buildings, and structures. The need for costly consultancy can be removed by using automated and advanced tools. The company was founded by Siri Kalvig, Knut Erik Gijlarhus, and Luca Oggiano and became fully operational in 9/2019. The venture builds on PhD thesis and research at UiS, NTNU, SINTEF and IFE - with the founders having extensive experience from developing and applying computational methods in a wide range of applications in both industrial and academic settings. Specialized deliveries to high-profile sports teams (e.g., Team Ineos, Mercedes Formula One and OlympiaToppen) are used for learnings, increased credibility, and marketing effect. The future of the company lies, however, in fully automated tools to reach mass markets such as “proptech” and “smart city” applications. The complexity and cost of current wind simulations cause poor designs and slow down improvements. Leveraging research results and a patented process will cater to pedestrian-friendly spaces around building projects and allow users to efficiently and professionally explore new product designs. Future flexible tools are also planned for players who would like to see Nabla Flow's core technology applied to e.g., drone paths, tunnels, gas dispersion, and structures built in the terrain. As a common denominator, focus is high on mitigation of risks ascribed to climate change. The project has over the last 18 months de-risked technical developments and increased commercial maturity. We emphasize the development of tools with a high degree of automation, commercial proofs and a growing topline, significant exposure to media, a successfully concluded patent grant and implementation of the company’s first equity issue with professional private investors. 14 employees are today responsible for the company’s development and commercialization journey relative to 4 staff at the time of receiving the award.

Nabla Flow has taken major leaps forward since receiving the POC award. We highlight: * AeroCloud («digital wind tunnel») is now fully automated and demonstrating early commercial traction. ArchiWind («holistic CFD tool for wind comfort and production calculations in urban areas”) is already used by the in-house team to deliver high-value-added services. Work will continue to launch as a self-served tool before year-end 2022. * Our SaaS revenue model is gaining traction. We also continue to learn a lot from working closely with pilot clients. * Significant media exposure, leading to inbound requests * Winner of the NORA Startup Award 2022 * Receiving “free” AWS cloud computing credits * Norwegian patent granted. Filings in the EU and US still pending * 14 staff are driving progress vs. 4 staff at the time of submitting the proposal * Execution of the company’s first equity issue in Dec. 2021 * Continued strong alignment with UN SDGs (#11 and #12), EUs Green Deal (building and renovating in an energy and resource efficient way) and EU Taxonomy (climate change adaptation)

Funding scheme:

FORNY20-FORNY2020