Butlr Spatial Intelligence Platform

Butlr is an MIT Media Lab spinout founded in 2019 by Honghao Deng and Jiani Zeng, headquartered in Burlingame, California, with an office in Tokyo. It addresses the lack of reliable data on how offices, hospitals and other spaces are actually used, without relying on cameras that capture identities.

Its patented Heatic thermal sensors detect body heat and use AI to infer presence, occupancy, movement and posture from low-resolution, non-RGB data. The wireless Heatic 2+ runs for multiple years on battery and mounts magnetically. Data feeds an API-first platform with real-time and historical occupancy, used for space utilization, demand-based cleaning, patient safety, staffing and energy efficiency. Customers named by Butlr include Verizon, Netflix, Carrier, Microsoft and CBRE, and its sensors also ship inside RICOH Spaces.

• Thermal sensing: Detects body heat to count people and track presence without cameras.
• Heatic 2+ sensor: Wireless, multi-year battery, magnetic mounting, certified in markets including Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
• Space utilization: Shows real-time and historical occupancy for desks, rooms and floors.
• Smart Cleaning: Combines restroom traffic and door data to trigger cleaning when needed.
• API-first data: Delivers occupancy data via dashboard or API with developer documentation.
• Security: Encrypts data in transit with TLS 1.2 and at rest with AES-256.

A multinational with offices in Ho Chi Minh City can measure desk and meeting room use to plan lease consolidation. A Grade A building operator can schedule restroom cleaning by actual traffic. A hospital or elderly care facility can monitor room presence and falls without cameras.

Facility teams get anonymous occupancy data that cannot capture personally identifiable information, easing privacy concerns. Wireless sensors with multi-year battery life cut installation work. Butlr reports customers saving an average of USD 1,400 per restroom per year with demand-based cleaning. Occupancy data helps cut heating and cooling of empty space and right-size office portfolios.

Hybrid work has left many offices underused, and owners want hard occupancy data to consolidate space, cut energy and clean based on use. Privacy rules and employee sensitivity are pushing buyers away from camera-based counting toward anonymous sensors, a trend relevant to Asian markets such as Japan, Singapore and Vietnam.

Founded in 2019 as an MIT Media Lab spinout. Raised more than USD 80 million; Series B led by Foundry with Qualcomm Ventures and Ricoh, other investors include Tiger Global, Carrier and SOSV. Offices in Burlingame (HQ) and Tokyo, team under 100 people. Heatic 2+ launched December 2024.