Comfy Joins the Siemens Family

At Comfy, our mission has always been to connect people to buildings, provide control for employees, and create amazing workplace experiences. Steve and I first started Comfy because we saw that the world of building technology and controls was so wrapped up in optimizing the building that it had forgotten the most important component of a well-run workplace: the people, those who work in the building and those who run it. So we set out to flip the way the industry thinks about buildings, and instead, to optimize around what the people actually want.

Today we’re excited to announce the next big step of our journey: Comfy is joining Siemens. As one of the global leaders in building technology, Siemens is just as excited as we are to make the Comfy experience the new standard for how people work in buildings, and we look forward to working with them to further our mission as an independent entity and vendor-agnostic product. At the same time, Comfy clients will benefit from Siemens’ expansive international reach and systems integration expertise and can look forward to years of growth.

It’s been quite the journey from our founding days to today’s big moment, where we’re now better positioned than ever before to lead the digital transformation of the workplace experience.

Where we began

Over a decade ago, while we were working on doctorates in computer science at UC Berkeley, Steve and I began developing the technology that would one day become Comfy, the industry’s leading workplace experience app. We assembled an all-star team to join us in taking Comfy to market, and successfully tackled the #1 office complaint: temperature.

I’m proud that today Comfy is still the only solution that has managed to “crack the code” and make it possible for office workers to make immediate changes to their temperature exactly where and when they need it.

In recent years, as smart technology has become increasingly prevalent and modern employees expect more choice in their workplace, we heard our clients say, “We just want one smart app to control everything in the office.” Since Steve and I are engineers at heart, we were psyched for the challenge. Today, in addition to on-demand, localized, intelligent temperature control, Comfy offers the ability to further connect, control, and communicate with the workplace; our app features help users adjust lighting, find and book available rooms and desks, and share immediate feedback with workplace teams.

Where we are today

Today, Comfy’s workplace experience app delivers happiness to employees at leading Fortune 1000 companies across millions of square feet globally (in over six countries and counting)! The Comfy solution also crunches 50 million data points on a regular basis to help workplace strategy and real estate teams increase employee satisfaction, while driving operational savings and improving  space utilization. Our cutting-edge tech is challenging preconceived notions about how buildings should be run, pushing the envelope, and turning naysayers into our strongest advocates.

So why did we decide to join Siemens, and why now? The short answer: great minds think alike.

Today’s workers expect more choice and control over how they work, where they work, and when they work. From millennials who came of age with intelligent, anticipatory, and mobile technology to baby boomers adopting smart tech at home, employees expect the same mobile, consumer-like digital experience at work. They want their buildings to work for them, not the other way around.

The workplace experience has to keep up. This has been our driving force at Comfy, and we were incredibly excited to find a kindred spirit in that mission with Siemens. Over the last few months we’ve talked at length about how our companies can combine our strengths to put people back at the center of buildings and drive the digital transformation of buildings.

Nearly every great technological breakthrough in modern history was the result of knowledge-share and collaboration among bright people, and when it comes to workplace tech and buildings, the people at Comfy and Siemens are among the brightest in the world. By joining Siemens and leveraging their deep expertise, international network, and resources, Comfy is now positioned to exponentially increase our impact on the modern workplace experience.

 So, what’s next?

We’re eager for our next stage of growth as part of Siemens! Here’s what to expect from Comfy going forward:

First, we will continue to create amazing workplace experiences for everyone—from the people who operate the building to the people who fill it. Our current (and future) clients can look forward to the same level of people-first, intuitive technology, and superior service that they’ve come to expect from Comfy.

“Comfy has an unparalleled ability to deliver game-changing workplace solutions that seamlessly integrate with diverse building systems and technology.” — Dave Hopping, President of Siemens’ Building Technologies (BT) Division – Americas

Second, we will continue to operate—and grow—as an independent entity and vendor agnostic platform, with Steve and I leading our team from our headquarters in Oakland, California. By collaborating more closely with Siemens’ global teams, we look forward to bringing the unique Comfy experience to more people around the world, faster than ever before. “Comfy has an unparalleled ability to deliver game-changing workplace solutions that seamlessly integrate with diverse building systems and technology,” says Dave Hopping, President of Siemens’ Building Technologies (BT) Division – Americas. “We look forward to supporting Comfy in this exciting next stage of growth.”

Third, you can expect major advances in product development. We’re looking forward to enhancing existing features and developing new functionality to make Comfy even smarter and more personalized for users, and to deliver even more value to real estate and workplace teams. We’re also eager to continue to expand our partnership ecosystem to ensure all buildings and workplace systems work with Comfy.

Shifting the entire buildings industry and transforming the workplace experience is no small feat, but we firmly believe Comfy and Siemens are the ones to make it happen—together. For far too long buildings have been treated like a “static” asset. It’s time we change that by ensuring that workplaces everywhere respond and adapt to people. That’s the best way to deliver value to the building owner, tenant, operator, and individual employees.

We can’t wait to show you what’s next.

Excited as we are about Comfy’s future?! Join our growing team!