Founder Spotlight: Christian and Frederik Hendriksen, Rensair

 

What led you to start Rensair?

Christian: We grew up with this technology. I suffered from asthma as a child. Our Dad invented the first portable air cleaning device to alleviate my symptoms. He then adapted the technology for use in Scandinavian hospitals.

When Dad retired, the technology was sitting idle. We saw an opportunity and in early 2020 incorporated Rensair to take up the focus on clean air in clinical environments. Initially we focused on the healthcare sector in the UK; the NHS is still one of our largest customers.

We’ve evolved that concept and are now working with large corporates, helping them manage indoor air quality, in an energy efficient way, through our Smart Demand Controlled Ventilation. There does not have to be a trade off between improving air quality and lowering energy consumption.

 

What big problem are you solving?

Christian: People spend 90% of their time indoors, and indoor air quality is two to five times worse than outdoor air quality, according to the EPA.

The built environment accounts for 40% of global energy consumption. Of that, the biggest line item is HVAC (at 40%). So 16% of global energy consumption goes to ventilating our buildings, yet air quality is pretty poor. That’s what we are focused on. How do we make good indoor air quality more affordable but also sustainable?

 

What new opportunities or challenges are you facing?

Frederik: We are expanding in the commercial real estate space, and we see tremendous room for growth.

Our clients, in particular tenants who are large corporates, find our technology extremely valuable. We help them gain control over HVAC energy consumption, trimming the dollars they pay to run their buildings, while improving air quality and lowering carbon emissions.

Historically, companies upgraded HVAC in buildings in 30 to 40 year cycles, it’s very expensive and complicated. Our technology flips that on its head. We deliver a solution that pays for itself in two to three years with an immediate impact on both energy consumption and air quality.

Sales cycles can move slowly, but we’ve focused on finding the right opportunities. We’ve seen tremendous interest in our products, and learned to balance that with the timelines that the real estate industry is used to.

 

What is the most important step for building an enduring company?

Christian: Product market fit is at the core, but more than that is really focusing on building something that resonates with clients and you can demonstrate commercial traction.

We keep an extreme focus on client feedback and managing everything around the business, product and so on. We only produce and pursue opportunities that resonate within a client space.

Undoubtedly, the team is core, so you can execute on your vision. It’s not as much hard skills, because they can be taught, but it’s finding people with the right mindset. I think we put together a really good team for executing on this opportunity.

 

How are you thinking about your global expansion?

Frederik: We’ve been thinking globally from day one, and already delivered products in 40 countries. We started in the UK and when scaling we created localized materials and hired people to cover various European countries with a local presence.

We decided that the US was, clearly, our largest expansion opportunity. You have the benefit of a similar language, so you can scale more easily.

Two years into growing our business I moved to New York to lead North American expansion. We can develop opportunities across the world and cover those opportunities globally.

Since we work with large global organizations, we can help them with solutions across geographies. So rather than us having that local presence in every country, we can do business with our clients at a global level and deliver solutions to them in whichever geography they’re looking for.

 

What is the hardest thing about building a company?

Christian: It’s about tenacity, right? Keep going and keep pushing and dealing with constant uncertainty. Freddie and I both worked in startups and scale ups before, it’s about understanding what you know, uncertainties you can control and influence or mitigate, and which ones you can’t. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and the market opportunity wouldn’t be there. While it is tough getting something new off the ground, the harder the thing, the bigger the prize at the end. That’s just an inherent challenge of being an entrepreneur.

 

How did you meet Hoxton Ventures?

Christian: Initially we were a bootstrapped company. We were raising our Series A and hadn’t talked to many VCs, rather high net worths and family offices. We were introduced to Hussein through a former investment banking colleague of mine. Hoxton became interested and had a good understanding of our space. Getting the Series A done was a straightforward process.

 

What has been your most memorable moment from your partnership with Hoxton?

Frederik: Rather than pinpointing a specific moment, I would say it’s been the partnership that we’ve had with Hoxton, in particular, Hussein.

Building a company is not a straight line process. There are ups and downs, what stands out is the great partner that Hoxton has been throughout. We’ve had very good engagement, very good discussions. Always a willingness to help. We’re also very engaged in the process, and working with Hussein has been a pleasure throughout. He’s very active on our board.

Christian: It’s been a really good collaboration. And, you know, it’s easy when everything is going well. It’s more when things are more challenging that you get to know who you are in partnership with, and that has been a really good process with Hoxton. We’ve been extremely happy.

 

Any advice for founders raising capital right now?

Christian: One thing we’ve discussed a lot is you need to be raising when you’re excited and when you’re comfortable, meeting your KPIs and have good progress with your business commercially. If you’re trying to raise money when you’re close to running out, it isn’t necessarily the right way to think about it, right? And, generally, given the current environment, figuring out how to run business as leanly as possible.

Frederik: It’s different from a couple of years ago where capital was a lot cheaper. I think people need to be a lot more focused on how they spend money, well, and ensure that they create shareholder value, as opposed to just trying to chase ballooning valuations. I think those are the key points.