Sense Monitoring aims high

This is a startup where you cannot have a fear of heights or open spaces. Their everyday working environments are the huge expanses of flat roofs. So every member of the team has to show courage and boldly propose innovative ways to improve the safety of the staff and protect the building structure.

In the beginning there was an idea. It brought together technically-minded friends: a surveyor, a building engineer, and a programmer. And it was this idea that provided the foundation for the Sense Monitoring startup in 2012. The three innovators were interested in the largest buildings, or “big-boxes”, and specifically their management and improvement.

Emerging from the garage

Work on a solution that could be shown to the world lasted for nearly four years. That was a time of prototyping, testing, and continuous improvement of the product. For sure, the technical background of the founders was a great help in the analysis of the operation. And from the start, it was also clear that the meticulous and systematic approach was key to validating the solution. Thanks to this, when Sense S-One was ready to be presented, it was a well thought-through product, ready for implementation. This is why it could be taken straight from the proverbial garage, where many startups have their beginnings, to the flat roofs of warehouses, logistics centres, and production facilities.

On the way to the top

Sense Monitoring was on its way up as well. Immediately after the product launch, the startup was recognised in the prestigious 2016 edition of the European Startup Awards competition, where it won the title of the best Smart City Solution in Poland.

A year later, the Sense Monitoring team was hosted at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw. The council of the Startup Poland Foundation selected the 10 most interesting solutions from among hundreds of applications from all over the country, and invited their creators to present their solutions to the representatives of the Polish government and largest companies in the country.

In the same year, Sense Monitoring was the only Polish company among 10 startups from around the world to be invited to the Wolves Summit. Their “Great Pitch” won them a prize from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and an invitation to present their product in London.

Accolades also accumulated in 2018. First, Sense Monitoring was triumphant at the Tradition & Modernity competition organised as part of European Start-Up Days. The crowning victory was the awarding of the title of the Innovative Product for Logistics, Transport, and Production 2018 to the Sense S-One system.

Great brands, large buildings

What is behind the recognition that the company has won in Poland and abroad? The Sense S-One system provides constant, precise, and automatic control of flat roofs, and prevents their overloading. The Sense Monitoring team have found the perfect way to satisfy the needs of the large buildings market, such as logistics centres, production facilities, commercial and shopping centres, and public utility buildings. All of them share a very high risk that their roofs may malfunction or suffer structural damage caused by torrential rains, persistent snow cover, and/or improper use, including negligent technical inspections. Sense S-One greatly minimises such risks, informing the owners of such roofs of critical conditions that could threaten structural safety.

It is little wonder that highly renowned brands from all over the country were immediately attracted to the solution proposed by Sense Monitoring. Soon, company’s clients included Panattoni Europe, Woodward, Fideltronik, Strabag, and 7R. As a result, today Sense Monitoring protects around 1,000,000 m² of flat roofs.

You can see more from the top

With the number of clients growing, Sense Monitoring also expanded its product offer. Talking with company CEOs and building managers gave the team in-depth insights into the challenges they face every day.

A second product innovation, besides Sense S-One, was the Smart Roof platform. Its main functionality is the 24/7 collection, aggregation, analysis, and archiving of flat roof data around the clock. All the information is sent to an intuitive mobile app where it is presented as clear graphs and images. Intended as a tool for managing multiple building portfolios, the platform automatically sends text messages and emails to notify users about all and any events that may need their attention.

The idea for another product was inspired by climate change. The increasingly sudden and intensive spring and summer rainfalls, which are also less predictable, regularly contribute to structural disasters such as caved-in, broken or leaking roofs. The Sense DSW (Water Build-Up Sensors) can prevent that, as they monitor the amount of water building up on the roof in real-time, send notifications of pool formation and verify the throughflow of roof outlets.

Acceleration like wind in the sails

The Sense Monitoring team is clear about one thing: the early development of the company is, in part, down to their participation in KPT ScaleUP, the Industry 4.0 accelerator managed by the Kraków Technology Park (KPT). The three-month-long support programme gave them the opportunity to work directly with industrial partners, and provided specialist training and mentoring that helped the Sense Monitoring team to gain momentum, gather valuable contacts, and improve their products with the help of experts.

However, the company itself doesn’t subscribe to a happy-go-lucky philosophy or a focus on hypergrowth. It sticks to its methodical, analytical approach. Everyone who climbs onto that roof knows that you need a trustworthy ladder, that you need to make sure that it is steady and then double check that it really is so, and then be alert when taking each next step on its rungs. This is how Sense Monitoring runs its innovative business for flat roofs. The effects are clear to see. Currently, the company is already profitable, it has discovered its business model, it is working on new products and fine-tuning the ones it already has launched. It welcomes its visitors to three offices (Warszawa, Kraków, Poznań) and develops contacts with foreign businesses interested in the implementation of the Sense Monitoring products. International expansion is the next stage in its development.

Looking at the efficiency of the Sense Monitoring team in reaching their goals, you can be sure of their success.

More information on Sense Monitoring can be found on their website, Facebook and LinkedIn.