infrared.city: Startup Revolutionizes Architecture with AI, Secures €1 Million Investment for Climate-Conscious Design

Thanks to a fresh injection of capital to the amount of € 1 million, infrared.city will accelerate the development of its technology for climate-conscious design. In this way, it will be able to offer real-time feedback and advanced environmental analyses to city planners and architects.  

Interview with Angelos Chronis, Co-Founder & CEO 

Your simulation platform for climate-conscious design sounds like a real game changer for the work of architects and urban planners. How does the software work and what does it offer users? 

infrared.city makes climate simulations accessible to all. What our AI-driven simulation platform aims to do is to allow every architect, city planner, engineer, developer, and policy maker understand the impact of their decisions on the environment and vice-versa. Our AI-supported simulation models combined with our open integration approach enable the assessment of the climate impact of design proposals for existing and new buildings intuitively and in real-time. 

How did Infrared City come to be founded, how long has the company existed and why did you choose Vienna as the location? 

infrared.city started as a research project and is a spin-off from the Austrian Institute of Technology’s City Intelligence Lab, which I was heading prior to the foundation of the company. As the project had been situated in Vienna already and as well due to the great climate resilience initiatives of the city and Austria in general, we decided to keep Vienna as the home of our startup. 

In autumn 2023, Infrared City received €1 million in pre-seed funding, led by xista science ventures, a VC fund with a focus on scientific spin-offs. What will you do with these funds?  

Our pre-seed fundraising, which was lead by xista science ventures and included funds from 2bX, Heartfelt Capital, Antler, and P3A Holdings is going to help us build the first commercial release of infrared.city which we expect to launch in Q4 2024. Our main focus currently is to develop a ground-breaking product that will make an impact on architecture and urban planning, democratizing climate simulations.

What do you consider to be the most important underlying conditions and strengths of the Austrian business location for your type of company? What is the country’s unique selling proposition? 

Austrian businesses with a strong research focus - like infrared.city -  benefit from the country’s reputation of rigorous and cutting-edge research capabilities. From our experience, Austrian’s startups focusing on a strongly scientific field are viewed with a lot of well-deserved respect as they come out of leading universities and research organizations, which is indeed the case for infrared.city as well. 

infrared.city was one of ten finalists in the Climate and Energy Fund's Greenstart startup initiative. How has this support affected the development of your sustainable business model in its early stage?  

The Greenstart program was a great opportunity to view infrared.city’s value through its impact perspective. The program has a strong focus on understanding, measuring and evaluating environmental and social impact and that has completely shifted our perspective as we were able to define infrared.city’s potential impact on climate-aware and sustainable design practices. 

And finally, one last question: what do you personally value the most about Austria? 

I’ve lived in 4 different countries, and vibrant cities like Athens, London, Barcelona, Lisbon and Vienna and yet I can’t stop praising the quality of this city, and this country. Further to scoring high in quality of life indices, the city, and the country has proven to me that even as a foreigner, with no language command, one can not only live and prosper in this city, but actually establish a business and promote one’s core values of sustainable and equitable living. The reason I still live, work and do business in Vienna is indeed the same that keeps its social fabric so coherent – the deep appreciation of sustainable and equitable life. I hope it stays that way!