Carrier creates venture capital group

USA: Carrier has created a venture capital group focused on investing in sustainable innovations and disruptive building and cold chain management technologies.

Carrier Ventures, headed by Jennifer Anderson, Carrier’s senior vice president, strategy, business development and chief sustainability officer, will engage in “deep collaboration and strategic partnerships” with its portfolio companies. This has already begun with investments in AddVolt and OhmConnect – high-growth organisations committed to reducing global emissions from refrigerated transport and homes.

Founded in 2014, AddVolt offers patented, non-invasive, low-maintenance electric systems for potential use with refrigerated vans, trucks, trailers and containers. It developed the world’s first plug-in electric systems for refrigerated transportation markets, which avoids fuel usage and reduces major emissions, including noise, particulates, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide. 

Carrier signed a strategic agreement with AddVolt in 2021 with the intention to advance battery-electric transport refrigeration development. The technology is already being used by customers in Europe with the world’s first fully autonomous electric trailer refrigeration system, the Vector eCool.

US company OhmConnect offers a free service that rewards users for saving energy during times when demand on the electric grid is high, helping reduce electricity consumption and emissions. 

“As a company founded on innovation, Carrier inherently values a creative and disruptive startup mindset,” said Carrier chairman and CEO Dave Gitlin. “Carrier Ventures will help connect our proven expertise and resources with the best thinkers outside of Carrier to accelerate bringing new technologies to market. In addition to delivering new solutions to make the world healthier, safer, more sustainable and intelligent for generations to come, it will also be an important tool in meeting our previously stated goal of helping our customers reduce their carbon footprints by more than one gigaton by 2030.”

A former executive director at JPMorgan Chase, Jennifer Anderson joined Carrier last year after two years at Tyson Foods, latterly as senior vice president of corporate development.

Commenting on the new business, Anderson said: “While Carrier has long been a sustainability leader, Carrier Ventures will be the catalyst to disrupt ourselves and our industry as we innovate and commercialise the next generation of differentiated, net zero solutions.”

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