Australian smart building scale-up continues growth trajectory with further partnerships; client implementations; and selection in RealTechX Growth Program.
Cognian Technologies, a fast-growing Australian technology company, today announced the expansion of its executive team with the appointment of James Isbell as Chief Commercial Officer.
As the provider of wireless smart building infrastructure continues to go from strength to strength, Cognian has also announced its participation in Taronga Group’s RealTechX Growth Program.
Cognian has appointed James Isbell to lead local and global business development for the company as it moves through its next phase of growth. With extensive Digital, Growth and Commercialisation experience Isbell has demonstrated consistent results in Australian, Asian and Global roles based in Sydney, Singapore and New York. Isbell was most recently with Microsoft leading strategic relationships with global Capital Markets, Investment and Wealth clients. Prior to this Isbell worked in leadership and growth roles at HPE and IBM.
Isbell’s appointment follows Rebekah Edwards joining the Cognian executive team as Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel in 2019. Rebekah has significant experience in the legal and financial services sectors, having worked at Goldman Sachs and Clifford Chance, in London; and King & Wood Mallesons and JPMorgan in Sydney.
“We are delighted to welcome James to the Cognian leadership team,” said Mark Blum, Co-founder and CEO of Cognian. “James joins us at the perfect time, spearheading our involvement in the RealTechX program and building relationships with key property and technology players as Cognian continues its expansion.”
Cognian is one of 12 businesses selected from 182 applicants to participate in the first cohort of the RealTechX Growth Program. Established by Taronga Ventures, the innovation program supports emerging real estate technology companies with strategic capital, growth expertise and access to a network of enterprise partners across the Asia Pacific region. In the five-month program, Cognian will benefit from proximity to some of the biggest local and global companies in the real estate sector, including Dexus, Lendlease, ISPT, PGIM and Australian Unity. The program is also supported by KPMG and the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, with an objective to help Australian companies scale into fast growth markets.
“Cognian is one of the bright stars in the Australian innovation scene, recognising the huge opportunity to provide simple solutions to one of the world’s biggest problems,” said James Isbell, Chief Commercial Officer at Cognian. “I’m excited to lead the charge as Cognian scales globally. Having worked across multi-national technology companies, there is huge potential to transition Cognian into a cloud-first global player in the smart buildings space.”
Cognian’s latest milestones follow the receipt of a $850,000 Federal Government accelerating commercialisation grant and the launch of its Syncromesh wireless canopy. As the world faces the monumental task of reducing the impact of climate change, the reality is that the operation of buildings alone contributes 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Syncromesh empowers building owners to simply add a range of building management solutions to lower a building’s carbon footprint, reduce energy costs and increase tenant satisfaction, regardless of the buildings’ size, location or age.
Cognian’s most recent installation was with Terraform Capital, a real estate investment firm managing more than A$500M worth of assets in the Asia Pacific region. Terraform Capital has installed Syncromesh in its agile working space, Nova Ark, at 171 Clarence Street, Sydney.
“With the deployment of Cognian Syncromesh in Nova Ark, we are able to further enhance our agile asset management focus and provide additional value to our tenants,” said Troy Shepherd, Head of Asset Management, Australia at Terraform. “Cognian’s smart canopy technology enables us to simplify and automate building management and to provide the new smart building experiences our customers expect. We are looking to apply these learnings and capabilities right across our expanding portfolio in Asia Pacific.”
