Solemma

What Solemma does

Solemma is a private Cambridge, Massachusetts-based software company that develops ClimateStudio, a CAD-integrated environmental performance analysis platform for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. The company's flagship product is a compiled plugin for Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper, with a companion Revit-to-Rhino exporter, that enables architects, engineers, and façade consultants to run daylight, glare, energy, thermal, and spectral simulations directly inside their design workflows. ClimateStudio is built on validated simulation engines (Radiance 5.4 and EnergyPlus) and uses a proprietary progressive path tracing approach with GPU acceleration to deliver results orders of magnitude faster than legacy tools.

The company's technology originated from research at Harvard's Graduate School of Design and MIT's Sustainable Design Lab under founder Christoph Reinhart, the creator of the DAYSIM simulation engine. ClimateStudio is the successor to DIVA-for-Rhino, which was used by over 50,000 students, researchers, and practitioners globally before being discontinued in 2022. The company maintains a product portfolio that includes the main ClimateStudio platform, a Grasshopper add-on for parametric workflows, an ALFA spectral ray tracing module, and an Educational Ambassador Program that serves 300-400+ academic institutions worldwide.

Solemma generates revenue primarily through annual subscription licenses sold via direct enterprise sales, with floating (multi-seat) and node-locked options for commercial customers, plus significantly discounted institutional licenses for educational and research users. The company sells to large global AEC firms (HOK, Gensler, SOM, Foster and Partners, Arup, AECOM, KPF, and others) and operates with a small team of approximately nine people. No external funding rounds, institutional investors, or acquisitions have been disclosed in the source material, and the company appears to be founder-owned.

Name

Solemma

Legal name

Solemma LLC

Website

https://solemma.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Solemma develops ClimateStudio, a subscription-based CAD plugin for Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper that delivers daylight, energy, glare, and thermal simulations to architecture, engineering, and construction firms. It serves global AEC practices and 300-400+ educational institutions through direct enterprise sales and an ambassador program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. ClimateStudio Subscription Licenses: Subscription-based licensing model for ClimateStudio. Two license types available: floating subscription license (installation on multiple machines, concurrent users limited to purchased seats) and node-locked license (single machine use). Software is licensed, not sold.
2. Educational Institutional Licensing: Floating institutional licenses offered at significantly discounted rates for educational and research institutions. Free trials available for up to 90 days for qualifying instructors.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Solemma develops and licenses ClimateStudio, a CAD-integrated plugin for Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper that performs validated daylight, energy, glare, and thermal simulations for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms. The software is built on the Radiance 5.4 and EnergyPlus simulation engines, employing a novel progressive path tracing approach that delivers simulation results orders of magnitude faster than legacy tools while supporting LEED, BREEAM, and EN-17037 compliance reporting. Solemma also provides a companion Revit-to-Rhino exporter and the ALFA spectral ray tracing add-on, with revenue derived primarily from annual subscription licenses sold to commercial firms and discounted institutional licenses to educational institutions.

Product overview

Solemma's product portfolio centers on ClimateStudio, a subscription-based flagship software platform released in 2020 that replaced the legacy DIVA-for-Rhino product. ClimateStudio operates as a plug-in for Rhinoceros 3D with a companion Grasshopper add-on and a Revit-to-Rhino exporter, all powered by validated Radiance and EnergyPlus simulation engines. The platform offers modules for daylight analysis (sDA, ASE, UDI), annual glare probability (DGP), thermal/energy simulation, and circadian stimulus analysis. ALFA (Adaptive Lighting for Alertness) is a complementary spectral ray tracing tool for circadian lighting analysis. DIVA-for-Rhino has been discontinued as of 2022.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ClimateStudio: Environmental performance analysis software for the AEC sector providing daylight and energy simulation capabilities, serving as the successor to DIVA-for-Rhino.
• ALFA
• DIVA for Rhino

Products and services

• ClimateStudio Flagship environmental performance analysis software for the AEC sector providing daylight, energy, glare, and thermal simulations integrated directly into Rhinoceros 3D workflows. Built on validated Radiance and EnergyPlus engines with novel progressive path tracing for speed, supports LEED v4, BREEAM, and EN-17037 compliance reporting. Licensed to architecture, engineering, and construction firms and to educational institutions.
• ClimateStudio for Grasshopper Parametric analysis add-on integrated with Grasshopper visual programming inside Rhinoceros 3D, enabling automated daylight simulations and building energy modeling workflows for architects and engineers who design parametrically.
• ALFA (Adaptive Lighting for Alertness) Spectral ray tracing software for circadian lighting analysis and spectral modeling, supporting custom spectral power distribution (SPD) definitions and spectral material analysis. Now folded into ClimateStudio's spectral workflows for lighting analysis.
• Revit-to-Rhino Exporter for Daylight Analysis Plugin that automates translation of Revit BIM models into Rhino for daylight analysis, filtering categories, generating analysis grids, converting glazing solids to single surfaces, and preserving Room IDs for downstream Radiance-based simulation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Simulations that took hours in legacy tools complete in seconds with ClimateStudio's progressive path tracing
• +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

Integration4 records

AI capability2 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Solatube International Inc.coreTechnology or Integration · 27 May 2021ClimateStudio partnered with Solatube, the worldwide leading manufacturer of Tubular Daylighting Devices (TDDs). Solatube products can now be simulated using ClimateStudio's workflows. ClimateStudio uses measured optical data from the manufacturer along with a custom version of Radiance to simulate TDD behavior. This integration helps architects design for daylight, visual comfort, and green-building credits.
• Product Advisory Group MemberscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSolemma formed a Product Advisory Group with industry leaders including A10, Behnisch Architekten, Gensler, HMFH, HOK, Integral Group, Kalwall, Kinestral, KPF, Lam Partners, Nikken, Perkins & Eastman, Saint Gobain, Shimizu, Snøhetta, Solatube, Studio MA, Takenaka, and View. The group regularly meets to review new initiatives and provide feedback on feature usability and product direction.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• OpenStudio (NREL): OpenStudio is a free, open-source energy modeling platform from NREL built on EnergyPlus. It overlaps as an alternative free energy simulation stack, with a SketchUp plugin offering a different CAD integration approach than Rhino-native ClimateStudio.
• Arup: Arup is a global engineering consultancy with significant internal building performance simulation capability. As a named ClimateStudio customer and a competing advisor in sustainability consulting, Arup represents an overlapping capability for project-level simulation services.
• Buro Happold: Buro Happold is a global engineering consultancy that performs in-house building performance simulation services for clients. While primarily a customer of tools like ClimateStudio, Buro Happold's internal modeling capability is functionally adjacent and a competitor for project-based simulation consulting.
• Transsolar: Transsolar is a climate engineering consultancy that uses and develops daylight and thermal simulation workflows. It is both a Solemma customer and a competing provider of bespoke environmental simulation consulting services.

Broad incumbents

• Autodesk Insight: Autodesk Insight is the building performance analysis module embedded in Revit and FormIt. As the dominant BIM vendor, Autodesk is the broadest incumbent in building energy and daylight simulation, with native distribution to the largest AEC customer base.

Direct peers

• Sefaira (Trimble): Sefaira, now part of Trimble, provides early-stage energy and daylight analysis tools targeted at architects during schematic design. It is a direct functional peer to ClimateStudio for performance feedback in the conceptual design phase.
• Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES): IES's Virtual Environment (VE) is a long-standing commercial building performance suite covering energy, daylight, IESVE, and compliance. IES is a direct commercial peer to ClimateStudio for whole-building environmental simulation in architecture and consulting firms.
• Ladybug Tools / Pollination: Ladybug Tools produces open-source Grasshopper/Rhino plugins (Ladybug, Honeybee, Dragonfly) covering daylight, energy, and microclimate analysis — directly overlapping with ClimateStudio's core surface area in the same Grasshopper environment.
• DesignBuilder: DesignBuilder is a commercial building energy modeling software built on EnergyPlus with a focus on architect- and engineer-friendly workflows. It targets the same energy simulation and compliance use cases as ClimateStudio's energy module.

Emerging players

• cove.tool: cove.tool is a cloud-based building performance optimization platform focused on early-stage energy, daylight, and cost analysis for architects and developers. It is an emerging player competing for the same schematic-design performance analysis workflow.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/energymodeling

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 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 Solemma