Valorization of industrial vehicle data: Hiboo raises €9.3M

Including emissions from the production of building materials estimated at about 3.6 GtCO2 (concrete, steel, aluminum, glass, bricks, etc.), buildings accounted for about 37% of global emissions in 2021, estimates a United Nations report.

The construction sector therefore has a lot to do to reduce its carbon footprint and approach zero emissions. The data collected by industrial equipment, including vehicles, could contribute to this environmental ambition.

Under-exploited data but useful for steering

It is on this observation that the Hiboo company has raised 9.3 million euros. Founded in 2017, the technological player promises to improve the productivity and energy efficiency of mobile industrial equipment fleets.

As a technological partner of construction, industry and equipment rental operators, Hiboo indicates that it processes the data of more than 63,000 connected equipment distributed in more than 100 countries. The added value of its solutions: a gain of up to 20% in terms of productivity and decarbonization of machinery.

The promise caught the attention of investors. The Emerald and Nabtesco ventures, ISAI Build Venture, Future Industry Venture, Ring Capital and Citizen Capital participated in the company’s fundraising.

In order to “reduce the carbon footprint of large construction sites by 20%, which mostly use diesel engines,” Hiboo has designed a SaaS software solution. The purpose of this is to exploit unused data from construction machinery.

The use of this heritage would thus allow operators to better manage their fleets by accessing the indicators of use and operation of equipment, as well as to measure their effective CO2 emissions.

37% of machines run at idle

The publisher specifies that the average operating share of idling machines is estimated at 37% by the French federation of buildings and public works in France. He adds that for some machines, the ratio can climb up to 70%.

“It’s as much energy that goes up in smoke”. The approach to reduce this waste therefore consists in collecting the data of the machines on its own platform, or integrating them with the main management software installed (SAP, Salesforce, BLG …).

“Until now, these data generated by each machine and vehicle, whatever the brand, were not systematically exploited, due to a lack of understanding and awareness of equipment managers,” Hiboo analyzes.

Thanks to its fundraising, the publisher plans to enrich its products, in particular “in such a way as to make data more accessible and more intelligent.”In particular, it will be a question of making the data activatable or operational, for example by automatically generating alerts or reporting.

Industrialists caught between energy costs and obligations

Hiboo, which has about forty employees, also plans to recruit on the commercial and tech functions. The company also wishes to expand its international coverage to “meet the needs of its customers, whose activity is often transnational.”

“The next step for the construction industry will be to exploit the data of its machines for a faster response, clearer insights and improved overall management”” comments Mehran Zaker, investment manager at Emerald, now a shareholder of Hiboo.

Better valorization of data is also critical in a context of rising energy prices and tougher regulatory obligations. And Hiboo cites the entry into force of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) on January 1, 2024.

The regulations oblige “companies to harmonize and improve the quality of their extra-financial reports, in particular with regard to ESG criteria.”