Shaping the Future of Energy Management With Elyos Energy

Emma Witherington

During my INSEAD summer break, I had the privilege of joining the team at Elyos Energy, a sustainability-focused energy management and optimisation start-up founded by two INSEAD alumni. 

Based in London, the team at Elyos are building an energy management software designed to decarbonise commercial real estate properties by using energy usage data to illustrate points of wastage, detect anomalies, and optimise energy use accordingly. Globally, commercial buildings make up more than 30% of electricity consumption. Their goal is to reduce commercial property carbon emissions by at least 10% while saving customers energy costs.  

I joined Elyos at an exciting time this summer, as they have successfully proven their product concept by onboarding several key customers. Now, they are focused on delivering quantifiable value to these customers to encourage ongoing platform usage while continuing expansion efforts. 

Ultimately, these efforts are all in service of driving meaningful carbon emission reduction. My goal in joining the team this summer was to apply my innovation background to their context, helping them sharpen their understanding of customer pain points to ensure their product continues to deliver value over time. Customer retention and expansion will be crucial to delivering on their company mission: decarbonising commercial buildings across the world. 

Customer retention is crucial to Elyos Energy

The customer research was insightful. Each conversation yielded new insights into the space of energy management across commercial properties, from how the increasing presence of smart meters enables stronger data collection for energy optimisation to how different leaders assess investment decisions in new infrastructure, like solar, to support the energy transition to a more sustainable grid. 

However, a common thread across customer interviews soon surfaced: while Elyos’ primary company goal is decarbonisation, most customers are still more motivated by cost savings.

This spurred reflection on a common question that has come up in INSEAD lectures as we discuss sustainability in various areas of our curriculum:

How can we align business success with positive environmental impact in a mutually beneficial way for business goals and our planet?

Luckily, the core of Elyos Energy’s value proposition aims to deliver exactly that: by optimising energy usage for customers, the platform serves to save customers money across their real estate portfolios while reducing carbon emissions at the same time. 

At the end of the internship, I delivered a customer research synthesis, complete with insights on customer pain points, future expectations of the platform, and implications on Elyos’ current product and operations to ensure the team continues to deliver customer value over time. I hope this research will help the Elyos team achieve their customer retention and expansion goals, furthering their course to scale their business “as a force for good.”  


This internship experience was supported by the INSEAD Hoffmann Institute Impact Internship Stipend and gifts from alumni.