The HomeBoost app will show you where your utility bills are saved

A few years ago, Selina Tobakowala’s daughter started leaving sticky notes all over the house, telling everyone to “turn off the lights” and so on.

Tobaccowala had just sold her last startup, Gixo, to OpenFit and was looking for a new challenge. “I saw the kids and thought: Let me see if there is something related to sustainability and climate,” she told TechCrunch. “There had to be something more than just turning off the lights.”

Without a background in climate science or hardware engineering, she wasn’t sure where to start. So Tobacwala turned to something she knows well: surveys.

“Because I love surveys, I’ve surveyed quite a few customers,” said Tobakowala, who was president and CTO of SurveyMonkey.

What I found was that people were struggling to figure out how to lower their utility bills.

“When we talked to consumers, we heard the same thing over and over again: They got an email saying, ‘Hey, you’re spending more money than your neighbors,’” she said. “They were kind of stuck on what to do about it.”

He co-founded the Tobaccoala Company HomeBoost To help people carry out their own home energy assessments. The company was part of Startup Battlefield 200 At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

The HomeBoost evaluation process begins with sending customers a BoostBox, a small kit that includes an infrared camera, a black light, and a link to an app that walks customers through the process. As people walk around their homes, an infrared camera shows them where cold (or hot) air is leaking into their homes; The black light tells people which lights can be upgraded.

Using data from scans, the app automatically generates a report suggesting the most cost-effective upgrades, including rebates based on where a person lives.

In many parts of the country, facilities provide a similar service. Utilities, incentivized to reduce their end users’ energy use, often work with energy auditors to survey people’s homes to identify ways to reduce their consumption. But the quality of these services can be very variable, Tobakowala said.

“We talked to a bunch of consumers who had done home energy evaluations, and there was a feeling that ‘all they did was try to sell me an upgraded HVAC device,’” she said.

HomeBoost is cheaper and faster than the Checker app, and helps people feel more in control of the process, Tobakowala said.

HomeBoost charges customers $99, which is about a quarter of the cost of a traditional in-person evaluation. It also works with utilities that cover some or all of the costs for customers. The startup has signed deals with Central Hudson, Omaha Public Power District, and most recently Avista. For example, Omaha Power pays all but $19 of the cost, while Central Hudson will cover the entire cost if homeowners check out a BoostBox from a public library.

But not every homeowner wants to complete the survey process themselves, and not every auditor is a pushy salesperson. Tobakowala said professional auditors can spend between two and 10 hours surveying homes, collecting data and preparing reports. For this reason, HomeBoost has developed a version of its app for professionals, allowing them to serve more customers.

The company is also testing a feature that will connect homeowners with contractors who can follow up on the upgrades described in the report. For contractors, it’s another source of new business, and allows them to get information about the project before they even set foot inside the home.

By bringing consumers, utilities and contractors together, Tobaccowalla hopes HomeBoost can eventually find success on the climate front as well. “It’s a very unique situation where everyone is lining up to lower their utility bill, which ultimately improves the climate,” she said.