2021 Year in Review: Ray Wu, Wynd Technologies Inc.

Name: Ray Wu

Job Title: Co-founder & CEO

Company Name: Wynd Technologies Inc.

What was the biggest lesson you learned while working during the pandemic?
The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced some of humanity’s longest-held wisdom—that strife is the soil from which growth stems. The pandemic has shaken the world, but it also has forever improved humanity’s understanding of how airborne infections spread from aerosolized virus particles. Before the pandemic, the prevailing view held that surface transmission offered the biggest risk for coronavirus transmission. But in reality over 70% of COVID transmission is via the air via droplets and aerosols. This understanding has accelerated the adoption of new air quality technologies that will help protect people for years to come.

What are your predictions for your industry in 2022?
America, and big cities like New York especially, are experiencing an indoor air quality revolution, as building owners and tenants increasingly deploy cutting-edge technologies to protect health and safety. PropTech will increasingly serve as a major differentiator for properties by helping building owners manage risks and costs. The price of moving air around buildings accounts for 40% or more of a commercial building’s energy-related costs. But property owners are increasingly leveraging powerful PropTech—like smart air quality sensors with real-time readings and responsive quality controls—to optimize energy efficiency and create a more healthy built environment.

What was your greatest professional accomplishment or most notable project, deal, or transaction in 2021?
Wynd Technologies’ $10 million Series A funding round, co-led by DBL Partners and Greensoil PropTech Ventures (GSPV), was our most notable deal of 2021. It shows the money flooding into real estate technologies, as property owners increasingly digitize and decarbonize the built environment. PropTech investment is on pace for a double-digit annual percentage increase in 2021, propelled by venture capital, innovative entrepreneurs and open-minded property owners and tenants. And New York is an epicenter for PropTech adoption and investment, with buildings required to meet ambitious state and local emissions mandates like New York City’s Local Law 97.