Benzinga | Sep 28, 2021 07:39AM EDT

Crown Electrokinetics Signs First Commercial Agreement With MetroSpaces; Co. Reports 'Crown will install its Smart Window Inserts in MetroSpaces' 70,000 square-foot Houston, Texas office building'

Crown Electrokinetics Corp. (NASDAQ:CRKN) ("Crown" or the "Company"), a leading smart glass technology company, has signed its first commercial customer, MetroSpaces Inc. (OTC:MSPC) ("MetroSpaces"), a proptech company combining world-class real estate development with cutting-edge technology. Crown will install its Smart Window Inserts in MetroSpaces' 70,000 square-foot Houston, Texas office building.

"Whenever you're bringing a new technology to market, as Crown is doing in smart glass, you first have to collaborate with innovators in the space, and that's why we've entered into this agreement. MetroSpaces is an innovator working towards our shared vision of how commercial buildings should operate, both in terms of tenant comfort and also lowering carbon emissions," said Doug Croxall, Chairman & CEO of Crown. "Achieving this milestone with MetroSpaces paves the way for our larger prospective customers to follow this path. We look forward to a successful first installation and long-term customer relationship to rollout in additional MetroSpaces buildings."

Crown's Smart Window Inserts aims to enhance the efficiency of existing windows, eliminating the need to replace the glass by easily fitting into window frames. It also acts as an additional pane of glass, further insulating the building from outside temperatures. And, powered by solar, Smart Window Insert will ultimately be able to function without wiring into the building. Initial field test results suggest that the inserts can reduce energy costs of office buildings by approximately 26%. Crown expects to start installation of the Smart Window Inserts during the first quarter of 2022.

"MetroSpaces is thrilled to work with Crown Electrokinetics and be among the first commercial building owners to receive its Smart Window Inserts powered by DynamicTint(tm)," said Oscar Brito, MetroSpaces CEO. "With our deep emphasis on proptech, we've looked at almost all of the smart glass solutions in the marketplace and have chosen to work with Crown because of its entirely unique approach of putting smart glass technology into a window insert. In our first building, this should help MetroSpaces lower energy usage with an attractive payback period. This is the sort of high-end connected services we'll be looking to install into all of our buildings."