Empower Equity (EMPEQ)

Our UnFinancing program with Empower Visibility can underwrite your commercial energy efficiency project in a matter of hours.

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Empower Equity announces $2 Billion in Funding to Provide Critical Equipment Capital during COVID-19

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The funding will enable companies, nonprofits, and municipalities to replace outdated HVACR, energy systems, heat/air conditioning, lighting and other critical equipment and infrastructure.

ITHACA, NY – April 14, 2020 – Empower Equity (EMPEQ), a service-disabled veteran-led fintech company focused on delivering equipment and project financing for commercial and industrial buildings, has broadened its portfolio with over $2 billion in available funding.  With this funding, EMPEQ can provide immediate financing, ranging from $10,000 to $10 million, for small- to mid-sized organizations to upgrade their essential building equipment—such as HVAC systems, chillers, and boilers—with new systems. This funding is designed to help companies critical to the fight against the Coronavirus keep their buildings and equipment operational, preserve capital amidst the current economic slowdown from COVID-19 and to cover the gap between their true need and the government stimulus they will receive.

Former US Marine, Herbert Dwyer, CEO of EMPEQ, co-founder of the service-disabled veteran owned and led company said, “We deeply understand and share in the concerns that business owners and building managers are facing in these unprecedented times, and are eager to help ease that burden in as many cases as we can. This funding is our way of helping companies and building owners optimize cashflow and ensure business continuity. It will also provide much needed work for professionals installing HVACR, lighting, and other equipment.”

With the developing situation in mind, the funding will prioritize businesses classified as essential in the fight against the pandemic, including hospitals, medical facilities, pharmacies, telecommunication providers, long-term care, and banks. EMPEQ will also accept applications from nonessential business owners looking for help to ease financial challenges stemming from COVID-19. While the CARES ACT is focused on providing essential working capital, and is flooded with requests, already exceeding initial expectations, EMPEQ has alternative private sources.

EMPEQ is uniquely positioned to help organizations struggling with the current business climate through its program, designed to fund projects faster than other companies. The suite of online tools developed to expedite the application can be completed in less than 5 mins at:  www.empeq.co/unfinance.

Businesses and building owners who can’t find the money in their budget for critical equipment—or are unable to get the funds from the stimulus package, can get their desired upgrade at no upfront cost and with no adverse effect on their balance sheet.

In one instance recently, the owner of a multi-unit housing complex in upstate New York had already decided to replace an outdated HVAC system in his complex with a newer, energy-efficient system, but he hesitated to pay upfront due to the economic uncertainty. After filling out the online application, EMPEQ quickly approved the $85,000 loan to pay for the new HVAC system in full, freeing up the owner’s cashflow. The new program is to help Small Business Owners keep operations running during the difficult times ahead.

According to a recent report from the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), improved airflow and recycling capabilities in HVAC systems can reduce airborne transmission of infectious diseases by diluting and removing the infectious agents from the area. For this reason, several leading industry experts are predicting a renewed emphasis on replacing HVAC systems in a wide variety of commercial buildings in the next year.

To learn more about EMPEQ’s subscription-based financing or apply for funding, please visit www.empeq.co or call (347) 903-6737.

About Empower Equity (EMPEQ) 

Incorporated in 2016, EMPEQ is changing the way commercial and industrial buildings finance their critical energy equipment and infrastructure projects. EMPEQ is a financial technology (Fintech) company that utilizes technology to provide small- and mid-size businesses, nonprofits, and municipalities easy to use and simple to understand finance options and tools for HVAC commercial contractors to close more deals, faster. EMPEQ deploys traditional financing as well as its unique subscription model. For more information visit www.empeq.co.  

EMPEQ Seeks High-Performing HVAC Salespeople to Join its Technology Advisory Committee

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Ithaca, NY, February 3, 2020 – EMPEQ, a leading provider of automated building HVAC equipment surveys, proposals, and financing solutions for HVAC salespeople and streamlined estimating for their operations managers, is looking for HVAC salespeople (commercial or residential) who are, or are seeking, to be high-performers in their industry to join EMPEQ’s Technology Advisory Committee (TAC). The EMPEQ TAC is recruiting experienced, forward-thinking members of the HVAC contractor community to guide the development of cutting-edge technology that will make their efforts even more effective.  

EMPEQ’s CEO Herbert Dwyer stated that, “HVAC salespeople are the lifeblood of their entire industry. Our company takes great pride in the men and women that we serve. It only makes sense for us to include them at the design table. The tools they will advise on will give contractors a powerful advantage that will allow them to close more deals faster and at a much higher gross profit and accuracy while easily outpacing their competitors.”  

Ron Reeves, EMPEQ’s CTO and longtime IT veteran said, “We have talked to dozens of HVAC salespeople and found that there are several frustrating aspects of their jobs, –challenges that are unique to the HVAC industry and are above the normal hurdles that any salesperson experiences. Our mission and passion at EMPEQ is to make it as easy as possible for a HVAC salesperson to do their job. In my world, that means developing tech solutions with the human element in mind.” The human element is exactly why EMPEQ decided to form TAC and to staff it with highly driven salespeople who are seeking ways to close more projects, faster. 

Members of the TAC will enjoy a complimentary license to the application and have early access to preview releases, as well as one-on-one training so that they are out ahead of the market.  This preview release program will assure that all participating members of the TAC will be positioned to get the maximum benefit as well as help guide the evolution to encompass what is important to them.  After a one-hour kick-off call and a mutual agreement of fit, one-on-one meetings with EMPEQ leadership will be convened every two weeks for 15-20 minutes. 

Incorporated in 2016, EMPEQ designs, builds, and deploys software tools that enable HVAC salespeople to close more deals, faster, resulting in more efficient and shorter sales cycles, greatly increased gross profit and accuracy, and less dependence on experienced technicians.  

Please email Ron Reeves, CTO, at ron.reeves@empeq.co if you are interested in joining the TAC.  

For more information on EMPEQ visit www.empeq.co 

General inquiries regarding EMPEQ, contact: 

Herbert Dwyer, CEO 
EMPEQ 
(347) 903-6737 
herbert.dwyer@empeq.co 
www.empeq.co 

Upstate New York Startup Is Awarded $500,000 for Novel Business Model to Provide Clean and Efficient Energy Solutions

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July 18, 2019, New York, NY – EMPEQ, Inc. (https://empeq.co), an energy-efficiency fin-tech company, has been awarded $500,000 by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) (www.nyserda.ny.gov), for EMPEQ’s novel business model which proliferates cleantech solutions. EMPEQ provides swift, safe, and simple financing for small and medium-sized businesses for operational equipment upgrades.

Herbert Dwyer, CEO of EMPEQ, provided the following commentary: “Receiving the grant contract through this opportunity presented by NYSERDA has allowed EMPEQ to hire strategic leadership team members, secure vendor partnerships to grow the business, and further the fin-tech platform that is the engine behind EMPEQ. Our partnership with NYSERDA continues to be a catalyst for our growth and their commitment to our region is one of the biggest reasons why Central New York is such a great place to do business.”

The aim of NYSERDA’s Novel Business Model and Offering funds is to promote novel business models and commercial service or product offerings, such as EMPEQ’s, that enable scaling of the deployment of clean energy technologies for companies. The grants intend to empower novel models and offerings to proliferate clean energy in a market that is frequently met with resistance due to high startup costs and uncertainty in financial returns.

Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDA said, “Novel business models enable proven clean energy solutions to be more rapidly deployed by helping to navigate market barriers to growth and I congratulate EMPEQ on this award. As New York continues its leadership position on climate and clean energy issues under Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading goals, it’s imperative we maintain our support for bringing solutions to some of our most pressing challenges to market quickly to help us address the impacts of climate change head-on.”

Founded by three Upstate New York natives, EMPEQ allows small to mid-sized businesses in any sector to upgrade their essential building equipment, such as HVAC or lighting, with simple and swift financing through their fin-tech subscription model. There are few financing solutions that can approve an organization for a financial solution with just two pieces of information without need for a personal guarantee, and EMPEQ is one of them.

Learn more about EMPEQ at: https://empeq.co

Veteran-Led Startup, EMPEQ, Is Awarded $100K Through NYSERDA’s Exclusive Ignition Grant to Provide Seed Capital

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EMPEQ was awarded the Ignition Grant through eligibility as a “Client Company” in NYSERDA-Sponsored Clean-Energy Incubators.

June 20, 2019, New York, NY – EMPEQ, Inc. (https://empeq.co), an energy-efficiency fin-tech company,  has been awarded $100,000 by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to support the next stage of growth for the startup company. EMPEQ provides swift, safe, and simple financing for small and medium-sized businesses, nonprofits, and municipalities for building equipment upgrades. NYSERDA provided funds through its Ignition Grants, available for client companies of NYSERDA-sponsored clean energy incubators that require seed capital to achieve technical or commercialization objectives that will help achieve near-term outcomes.

“Receiving the Ignition Grant contract propelled EMPEQ into the next stage of growth allowing for increased capacity in all facets of the business,” said Herbert Dwyer, CEO of EMPEQ.

The aim of the Ignition Grants is to best position the client companies working with NYSERDA-sponsored incubators, such as EMPEQ, to attract and secure sufficient follow-on capital to commercialize clean energy innovations and accelerate their time to market. NYSERDA’s strategy for the Ignition Grants initiative is to make highly targeted, timely seed investments in incubator client companies that will directly impact near-term outcomes for these ventures, such as raising investment capital, securing corporate/strategic partnerships, and engaging potential customers/partners.

EMPEQ allows small to mid-sized businesses in any sector to upgrade their essential building equipment, such as HVAC or lighting, with quick and easy financing through their fin-tech subscription model. There are very few financing solutions that can quickly approve an organization for a financial solution with just a few pieces of information without the need for a personal guarantee, and EMPEQ is one of them.

Learn more about EMPEQ at: https://empeq.co

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About EMPEQ

EMPEQ solves the three biggest problems that stop small to mid-sized organizations from taking advantage of energy efficient equipment:

1. Upfront cost

2. Time-consuming loan review

3. Decision-makers having to personally guarantee corporate loans or leases

With EMPEQ, a multi-family, commercial, nonprofit, or municipal organization can use energy efficient equipment, such as LED lighting or an air source heat pump system, without upfront cost by providing just their corporate name and address for financial review. Within 48 hours, approved organizations can simply sign a service contract with EMPEQ and then an approved contractor will perform the installation. EMPEQ uses its unique financing model and proprietary FinTech platform to help channel partners like contractors and utilities to overcome the equipment financing challenges faced by their customers.

EMPEQ MEDIA CONTACT: Herbert Dwyer, Co-Founder and CEO, at herbert.dwyer@empeq.co

EMPEQ – Proud to be a Cup of Water in an Ocean of FinTech

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This past week, I had an opportunity to attend events on back-to-back nights in New York – Empire Startups March FinTech Meetup and Rise NY VC Advice: Launching, Scaling and Fundraising a FinTech Startup – and I could not be more proud to be a part of such an inspiring community of entrepreneurs.

The more people I met, the more impressed I became with how financial services is transforming right before our eyes. Whether it was in payments, virtual banking, or regulatory tech, every story I heard only drove home the fact that, with technology shifting ever so quickly, there is a seemingly bottomless opportunity to make our financial lives simpler and easier. I’m happy to say that, even though we’re bringing more speed and simplicity than ever before to commercial underwriting, EMPEQ does not have the market cornered on improving the customer experience for financial institutions.

empeq-derek-fintech-meeting

Honestly, in the purest sense, it made me proud of our country’s characteristic American ingenuity. Just like me, every entrepreneur in attendance noticed an inefficiency in the market, knew that he/she could find a better way, and, most importantly, took the initiative to dive in head first into solving the problem. And this is despite the fact that, in all of these cases, founders eschewed safer, more comfortable lifestyles in pursuit of creating something that will make people’s lives better.

After participating in these events last week, I’m confident that fintech’s future is bright; in fact, my parting thought both nights was the same: I can’t even imagine how much improvement is coming to financial services in the next ten years. Technology really is going to make our lives better – and this group won’t rest until it does!

What’s going on with the Small and Midsize commercial energy efficiency market, anyway?

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Even though technologies are well-established and value propositions are compelling, the adoption rate of commercial energy efficiency remains low. As shown on in the figure to the left, the vast majority of US buildings built before 2008 still utilize the same energy equipment they did on the day that they opened. Among the most popular energy efficient upgrades, not one vertical could boast a penetration rate of more than 21%. In fact, this same study also found that an astonishing 61.2% of all buildings 50,000 square feet (sqft) and smaller built before 2008 have never been renovated or improved in any way. Not only is this equipment assuredly grossly inefficient, it will have undoubtedly suffered major degradation through the decades.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) lists the primary reason for this stagnant market is money. Up-front costs and the lack of well-aligned financial solutions have doomed the market.

Regarding up-front costs, entities have only so much cash available for capital projects and energy efficient upgrades routinely have not been deemed a priority. In a study of small and midsize entities, only .35% of business owners said they planned to use their available cash to “Be proactive” – the category that includes energy efficiency. This has even been in the case of failing machines well past their useful lives; building owners have preferred to pay the high and increasingly frequent service costs just to avoid the up-front capital expense of replacement. Ultimately, with limited capital insufficient for all of a business’s needs, building owners are opting to not replace items that can kept in a current suboptimal state for a fraction of the up-front cost.

While there are financing structures available to small and midsize entities that do not require up-front payment, all of the current options have substantial drawbacks. Leases, loans, and lines of credit all carry with them substantial sales friction points like time-consuming underwriting, personal guarantees, and/or a negative affect on the customer’s ability to borrow money for other projects and priorities. The most attractive solutions, specifically, those that do not affect the customer’s borrowing ability, do exist in the market; however, the high costs to underwrite customers have limited third-party ownership structures to buildings larger than 50,000 sqft and often above 250,000 sqft. Yet the market below 50,000 sqft represents 93.9% of the commercial buildings in the United States. In other words, the major players in our industry like Johnson Controls, Siemens, and Honeywell neglect 19 of every 20 commercial buildings in the US.

The only way that we can begin to address this major issue in our market is by providing a scalable, well-aligned financial solution to these small organizations. This is why EMPEQ exists: to provide a simple, swift, and safe financial solution to the small and midsize commercial market. Our proprietary Empower Visibility platform trims time and effort from the process by evaluating 81% of customers with just their corporate name and address. And EMPEQ’s UnFinancing program is a no-money down solution that never requires personal guarantees and does not affect a customer’s ability to borrow capital for other priorities.

At EMPEQ, we believe strongly in the power of energy efficiency. And it is clear to us that animation of the financial marketplace to bridge the most important gap for this currently dormant section of the market is an important first battle in the critical war of the next fifty years: the fight against climate change.

1 – https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/data/2012/bc/cfm/b6.php; Retrieved November 8, 2018. And EMPEQ calculation of the data therein

2 – Ibid, and EMPEQ calculation of the data therein.

3 – https://aceee.org/topics/energy-efficiency-financing; Retrieved November 8, 2018

4 – “2015 Business Funding Survey: SMEs”, British Business Bank, Feb 2016. And EMPEQ calculation of the data therein

5 – https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/data/2012/bc/cfm/b6.php; Retrieved November 8, 2018.