What Tensio does

Tensio Structure ("Tensio") is a Quebec City-based IoT building monitoring company, founded in 2020 in response to a wave of roof collapses in Eastern Canada during the winter of 2019. The company provides a condition-based preventive maintenance platform centered on wireless sensors that measure structural stress (steel elasticity in beams and joists) caused by snow load, ambient temperature, humidity, and roof drain conditions. Sensor data is transmitted via LoRaWAN to Tensio's servers, where a transformer-based neural network combines real-time readings with 7-day weather forecasts to predict snow accumulation and trigger threshold-based alerts. Tensio was acquired in June 2024 by Canam Group, a 60-year-old manufacturer of metal building components and structural engineering firm, and now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary leveraging the parent's structural engineering expertise.

The product portfolio is modular and includes a Snow-covered Roof Monitoring Solution, an Ambient Conditions Monitoring Solution (tracking temperature, humidity, Humidex thermal comfort, and mold risk), a Roof Drain Monitoring Solution, LoRaWAN-based IoT sensors and gateways, and a web application for real-time visualization and alerts. Tensio monetizes through a combination of hardware sales (sensors and gateways), recurring web application subscriptions, and engineering/professional services such as structural load calculations, installation, and ongoing support. Contracts are multi-year and pricing is building-specific, scaling with roof surface area (typically 6-20 sensors per building). The company sells direct via enterprise field sales to industrial, commercial, institutional, and multi-residential building operators across Canada.

Tensio's customer base spans large enterprises across food processing (Agropur), retail/grocery (Loblaw, Sobeys, Leclerc), real estate (Ivanhoe Cambridge, Olymbec, JLL, Pure Industriel), financial services (Manulife), manufacturing (GE, BRP, Winpak, Transcontinental), government (Société québécoise des infrastructures, Villes de Lévis and Shawinigan), education (Université Laval), and healthcare (CSS Hautes-Laurentudes). The company's stated value proposition centers on replacing subjective visual roof inspections with continuous structural data, reducing unnecessary snow removal interventions (every customer is reported to have saved at least one removal operation post-installation), and reducing worker exposure to roof-access hazards.

Name

Tensio

Legal name

Tensio Structure

Website

https://tensio.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Tensio is a Quebec City-based IoT company, founded 2020 and subsidiary of Canam Group, that provides real-time structural and ambient monitoring of building roofs using LoRaWAN sensors and a transformer-based AI predictive model to optimize snow removal and preventive maintenance for industrial, commercial, and institutional operators across Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

IoT Building Monitoring

NAICS

Automatic Environmental Control Manufacturing for Residential, Commercial, and Appliance Use (334512)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823), Auto Controls For Regulating Residential & Comml Environments (3822), Measuring & Controlling Devices, Nec (3829)

akta.pro primary industry

Building IoT Sensors & Edge Devices (IAQ, Occupancy, Condition Monitoring) (BPABAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Industrial Safety, Compliance & Worker Monitoring (IMAIAMAG)

Keywords

• IoT building monitoring
• Snow load monitoring
• Predictive maintenance sensors
• Structural health monitoring
• Ambient condition monitoring

Headquarters

HQ city

Quebec

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. IoT Sensor Hardware Sales: Sale of intelligent wireless sensors and network gateways for building monitoring. Sensors are installed in buildings to measure snow load, temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions. Hardware includes sensors installed on steel structures and gateways for data transmission.
2. Web Application Subscription: Access to Tensio's web application for real-time monitoring, data analysis, and alert management. The application displays sensor data cross-referenced with weather forecasts and provides personalized alerts when critical thresholds are reached.
3. Engineering Services: Structural engineering calculations to determine building roof load capacities, installation services, and ongoing technical support. The company provides turnkey system implementation including configuration, installation, and maintenance.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Tensio provides IoT-based preventive building maintenance solutions that use intelligent wireless sensors deployed via LoRaWAN to measure real-time structural stress (snow load via steel elasticity in ceiling beams and joists) and ambient conditions (temperature, humidity) inside large flat-roof buildings. Sensor data is transmitted to a network gateway and then to Tensio's servers, where an AI-powered transformer-based neural network cross-references readings with 7-day weather forecasts to deliver predictive alerts and capacity dashboards through a web application accessible from computer or mobile device, targeting industrial, commercial, institutional, and multi-residential building operators across Canada.

Product overview

Tensio is a modular, turnkey condition-based building maintenance platform consisting of IoT-connected wireless sensors (operating via LoRaWAN), a network gateway infrastructure, and a web application for real-time monitoring and alert management. The core product portfolio includes the Snow-covered Roof Monitoring Solution (AI-powered snow load detection using structural sensors), the Ambient Conditions Monitoring Solution (temperature, humidity, thermal comfort/Humidex, mold risk), and the Roof Drain Monitoring Solution. Supporting self-service tools include a Snow Load Calculator for flat roofs in Canada, while educational resources include a Smart Industrial Buildings White Paper and a Snow Monitoring and Response Plan Ebook. The company, founded in 2020 and operating as a subsidiary of Canam Group, primarily serves industrial, commercial, institutional, and multi-residential building operators in Canada.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Snow-covered Roof Monitoring Solution IoT-based snow load monitoring system using intelligent wireless sensors installed in the steel ceiling structure (beams or joists) of buildings to measure real-time structural stress caused by snow accumulation. Data is cross-referenced with 7-day weather forecasts using AI and surfaced in a web application with email and text alerts, serving building operators, facility managers, and property managers of large flat-roof buildings.
• Ambient Conditions Monitoring Solution Environmental monitoring solution using wireless IoT sensors to measure temperature, humidity, thermal comfort (Humidex index), and mold formation risk in real time, with continuous indoor environment tracking, customizable alert thresholds, and a web application for historical data analysis. Designed for facility managers concerned with occupant comfort, energy efficiency, mold prevention, and indoor air quality compliance.
• Roof Drain Monitoring Solution IoT monitoring solution for roof drains that detects clogged or blocked drains in real time to prevent water infiltration and structural damage, providing automated alerts when drain conditions become critical.
• IoT-connected Sensors High-performance wireless IoT sensors deployed via LoRaWAN communication protocol to measure building-related data including snow load, temperature, and humidity in real time. Sensors transmit data to a network gateway installed on-site, which forwards information to Tensio's servers for processing and visualization in the web application.
• Tensio Web Application Intuitive web application providing real-time monitoring and visualization of all sensor data, displaying structural capacity percentages, weather forecasts, and alert notifications. Accessible from computer or mobile device without software installation, requiring only browser access.
• Snow Load Calculator Free online calculator for flat-roof buildings in Canada that estimates maximum snow height limits by density (ice, compact snow, powdery snow) based on building dimensions and construction year, enabling building operators to quickly assess snow load thresholds.

Quantifiable outcome

• All Tensio customers who previously cleared their roofs every winter have saved at least one snow removal operation following system installation
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Canam GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Tensio is a subsidiary of Canam Group, a recognized leader in manufacturing metal components and engineering for buildings and infrastructure with 60 years of experience. Canam Group provides Tensio with structural engineering expertise and innovative vision while Tensio offers modern technological solutions for building maintenance challenges. Tensio was founded in 2020 following the winter of 2019 when Eastern Canada experienced significant building roof collapses due to snow accumulation. Canam Group's expertise in building structures enables Tensio's sensor technology and engineering calculations for building load capacity monitoring.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Sensemetrics: Sensemetrics provides an IoT platform for geotechnical and structural health monitoring of infrastructure and buildings, offering wireless sensors, gateways, and a cloud dashboard. Like Tensio, it focuses on real-time sensor data and predictive analytics for asset integrity, but operates across dams, tunnels, and bridges rather than snow-load-specific applications.
• Worldsensing: Worldsensing offers wireless IoT monitoring solutions for construction, mining, and infrastructure, including load and environmental sensors with a cloud platform. Its scope is broader than Tensio's (geotechnical, tunneling, rail) but its operating model—LoRaWAN gateways plus SaaS visualization—is directly comparable.
• Brickeye: Brickeye provides IoT-based risk monitoring for construction and buildings, including water leak, temperature, humidity, and structural sensors feeding a cloud dashboard. It targets similar enterprise and insurance customers and shares Tensio's hardware-plus-subscription model, though focused on water damage prevention rather than snow load.
• Safehub: Safehub delivers structural-health-monitoring sensors and analytics for buildings, with vibration and motion sensors capturing real-time building response to seismic and other events. While its trigger event is earthquakes, the underlying IoT-sensor-plus-cloud-analytics approach for building safety is closely aligned with Tensio's structural monitoring.

Emerging players

• Resonai: Resonai builds AI-powered digital twins of commercial buildings for facility management and operations. It is adjacent rather than directly competitive, but its building-occupancy and environmental analytics overlap with Tensio's ambient conditions use case.
• BrainBox AI: BrainBox AI applies AI to HVAC and building energy optimization using existing building sensor data. It targets a similar facility-manager buyer as Tensio's ambient-conditions solution, although its primary value proposition is energy savings rather than structural monitoring.
• Disruptive Technologies: Disruptive Technologies manufactures miniature wireless IoT sensors for temperature, humidity, leak, and occupancy monitoring across buildings and infrastructure. It competes in the building-IoT-sensor layer and could serve as a hardware alternative or partner for ambient condition monitoring.
• Awair: Awair provides indoor air quality monitoring sensors and dashboards for commercial buildings. Its scope (IAQ, temperature, humidity) overlaps with Tensio's ambient conditions product, though it focuses on occupant health/comfort analytics rather than structural risk.

Broad incumbents

• Honeywell Building Technologies: Honeywell's Building Technologies division offers a broad portfolio of building automation, sensors, and asset-monitoring solutions for commercial and industrial facilities. It can bundle competing monitoring capabilities into larger BMS contracts that include Tensio's target buyer.
• Siemens Smart Infrastructure: Siemens Smart Infrastructure provides building automation, energy management, and digital building solutions globally, including sensor and monitoring layers for commercial and industrial sites. It competes in the same buyer conversations as Tensio, but as a broad incumbent rather than a snow-load specialist.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@tensio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tensio-structure
• Facebookfacebook.com/TensioStructure

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tensio