The need for efficient, continuous monitoring of remote industrial sites presents a critical challenge across emissions-intensive sectors like oil, gas, mining, and waste management. Andium addresses this challenge through its innovative AI-powered remote field monitoring and communications platform. By integrating advanced AI software with strategic on-site sensors and cameras, the company delivers a comprehensive Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution that enables real-time monitoring and rapid detection of critical issues including methane leaks, fires, and equipment malfunctions. Working with major energy conglomerates like ConocoPhillips and BP, Andium has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by up to 65% per location while simultaneously cutting field operational costs by up to 45%, all while ensuring compliance with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
AlleyWatch caught up with Andium Founder and CEO Jory Schwach to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Andium, an expert in AI-powered remote-field monitoring and communications technologies for the energy, mining, waste, and other emissions-intensive industries, announced it closed a $21.7M Series B funding round led by Aramco Ventures. The round was also supported by existing investors Climate Investment, Intrepid Financial Partners, and former Citadel CIO, Thomas Miglis. Following the company’s $15M Series A in 2021, this investment brings the company’s total funding to over $40M.
Tell us about the product or service that Andium offers.
Andium combines AI-powered software with on-site sensors and cameras to provide a comprehensive, real-time Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution for remote field monitoring. This enables operations labor savings, better reporting tools and accurate tracking of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics, detecting issues like methane leaks, fires, and equipment malfunctions. By providing instant insights, Andium helps companies ensure continuous asset performance and regulatory compliance. The technology has already proven effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 65 percent per location while lowering field operational costs by up to 45 percent for major energy companies like BP and ConocoPhillips. Andium’s real-time monitoring automation reduces windshield time by over 80 percent, addressing labor challenges, empowering workers, and improving efficiency across remote locations.
What inspired the start of Andium?
Andium was founded in 2013 to address an infrastructure gap at industrial locations. The company officially entered the energy market in 2019. Our mission is to revolutionize industrial monitoring with next-gen technology. This in turn empowers customers to reduce costs and mitigate emissions in carbon-intensive industries like oil, gas, mining, and waste management. Operationally, technology stands to bring real time data to agile teams which can utilize the Andium ecosystem on a daily basis. From an emission perspective, methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and is a significant contributor to climate change. Approximately 60 percent of methane emissions stem from human activities, with the energy sector, primarily fossil fuels, accounting for over one-third of these emissions. As methane reduction becomes a regulatory priority, Andium’s solutions will play a crucial role in helping companies meet emission reduction targets. At scale, Andium’s technology has the potential to contribute to lowering global temperatures. Errand methane releases from industrial facilities are contributing to more than a third of a degree Fahrenheit (approximately 0.14°C) in global warming.
With the support of Aramco Ventures, we can scale our solutions across these sectors and geographies where they are most needed. Our approach is to work within these industries to achieve the maximum possible operations efficiency while helping drive emissions reductions.
How is Andium different?
Andium’s ecosystem is continuously monitoring industrial sites. From an operation perspective this means less driving miles, reduced safety incidents and more efficient teams. From an emissions perspective, our continuous monitoring capabilities go beyond what’s possible with satellites and drones. The platform delivers real-time, AI-powered sensors integrated on-site that provide continuous, site-specific data, which offers a much more accurate and comprehensive picture than manual monitoring. Our system reduces the need for regular, in-person site inspections, cutting down on labor and logistics costs. We are cost-effective, easy to deploy, and designed to give operators immediate insights—helping to reduce emissions faster and more efficiently. We are already helping top U.S. energy companies including BP and ConocoPhillips cut emissions by up to 65% and operational costs by 45%.
What market does Andium target and how big is it?
We primarily operate in labor and carbon-intensive industries like oil, gas, mining, and waste management.
What’s your business model?
We sell a hardware enabled software-as-a-service platform that consists of hardware and software to support the entire lifecycle of our emissions monitoring solution.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
Economic slowdowns are a normal part of the energy lifecycle as costs for energy are always fluctuating. Given our rigorous focus on operational efficiency, the market dynamics change the services that drive sales toward an operate by exception field management process. For example, during the last oil price downturn, our service lines for site monitoring increased in demand due to a cut in field support, thus driving our services focused on field efficiency.
What was the funding process like?
Our fundraise process has always been focused on strategic investors, which narrows our investor type but strengthens our investor’s understanding of our business. In this way, it increases the diligence process and timeline a bit but improves outcomes for everyone.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The market downturn for VC slowed the pace of our Series B round and our strategic focus limited the appropriate investor base. That said, we felt confident the right investors would be far more additive than the capital alone.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The strategic nature of our investors at Aramco Ventures, Climate Investment, Intrepid Financial Partners and others meant that operational support for our thesis actually helped drive the investment. The understanding of the value for the technology within our lead’s operating arm helped to showcase the mission alignment of our business with their own thesis.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We are hiring for specific roles within the business to support our next phase of growth including technical and operationally focused team members.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
The VC market is far more disciplined than it was in 2021, so it will be important to demonstrate discipline on cash management, capital use, and methods of growth. Be prepared for the investment market to be tight for many more quarters, which in turn means alternative financing may be necessary for many VC-based companies not yet at breakeven.
Where do you see the company going in the near term?
I see the development and sale of services aimed at the near to medium-term challenges facing the industrial markets driving our business to new heights. This means new ways to add value to our customers through increased service lines without significant increase in costs.
What’s your favorite fall destination in and around the city?
I love savoring the last weeks of reasonable weather by visiting the parks and running paths in and around the city. There are plenty of leaf changes in Central Park worth jogging through.
