Sefaira

Sefaira is a software company that specializes in green building design software.^[1] In 2011, Sefaira won the Green Building Innovation of the Year award at London's Ecobuild.^[2][3][4] The company was founded in 2009.^[5]

Sefaira Ltd.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Building Design Software
Founded	2009
Founders	Peter Krebs Mads Jensen
Headquarters	London, New York
Key people	Andrew Corney Peter Krebs Hugh McEvoy Hari Natarajan
Products	Sefaira Architecture Sefaira Systems
Number of employees	50
Parent	Trimble Inc.
Website	http://www.sefaira.com/

On February 8, 2016, Trimble Inc. announced the acquisition of Sefaira Ltd. Sefaira will join SketchUp in the Trimble Architecture & Design division, part of Trimble Buildings.^[6][7][8][9]

History

Sefaira was founded in 2009 by Peter Krebs and Mads Jensen to provide the building industry with software to design and create green buildings.^[5] They derived the name Sefairia from the Greek word sefra, meaning sphere, symbolizing the earth and the company's focus.^[10]

In 2009, Sefaira won the INSEAD Business Venture Competition, and shortly after Sefaira was incorporated in London, UK, with offices opening in New York, US, shortly thereafter.^[5][11]

In 2011, the cloud-based analysis platform was voted the most promising new technology at the London Ecobuild.^[12]

In April 2012, the company announced that it had received $10.8 million in Series A funding from Braemar Energy Ventures in partnership with Amsterdam-based Chrysalix SET and UK-based Hermes GPE.,^[2][13][14] and in July 2012, the company announced the public launch of the Sefaira web application.^[15]

Products

The company's primary product is Sefaira, a web-based performance analysis platform specifically built for conceptual design.^[16] Sefaira is targeted towards architects, engineers, consultants and building designers. It performs whole-building physics-based analysis of water, carbon and renewable energy potential allowing designers and architects to explore design options.^[1][16][17] The software includes support for SketchUp. In 2013, Sefaira released a new plugin for SketchUp that connects energy analysis and daylight to building design.^[18] In 2014, Sefaira released a new plugin for Autodesk Revit that connects energy analysis and daylight to building design.^[19] In 2015, Sefaira released Sefaira Systems, a product designed for HVAC designers to do system sizing and energy analysis using SketchUp and Revit models.^[20] In 2020, Trimble released SketchUp Studio 2020, whose file format can be used by Sefaira.^[21]

Awards

• 2009 – INSEAD Business Venture Competition – Winner^[11]
• 2011 – Green Building Innovation of the Year – Winner^[2]
• 2012 – Going Green - Global Top 200 Private Companies^[22]
• 2013 – Red Herring 2013 Top 100 Global^[23]
• 2013 – Sustainability Leaders Award – 2013 Winner for best Software Innovation^[24]
• 2013 & 2014 – Global Cleantech 100 award^[25][26]
• 2014 – Architizer A+ Awards – Best App – Jury's Winner^[27]
• 2015 – Edison Awards – Bronze – for Energy Management/Conservation Category^[28]
• 2015 – Dutch Green Building Council – Duurzaame Innovation (Sustainability Innovation) Winner^[29]
• 2015 – Sefaira is named in the 2015 Global Cleantech 100 for a third year in a row^[30]
• 2019 – The PBD Performance Based Design approach using Sefaira and SketchUp featured in Design Process chapter of MEEB 13th Edition (Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings)^[31]
• 2020 – Sefaira+SketchUp design wins ICF Magazine Small Residence project of the year award^[32]
• 2022 – Project Stasio: Winter 2022 Challenge-Simple Box Modeling Overall Winner^[33]