AutoGrid Raises $20 Million for Energy Internet

AutoGrid Systems has raised over $20 million in series C-2 financing from a consortium of global strategic investors. AutoGrid plans to use the funding to further develop its Energy Internet suite of applications and to extend marketing and sales efforts in North America, Asia and Europe.

The consortium is led by the utility-backed fund Energy Impact Partners (EIP), an investment firm representing four of the largest utilities in the United States and United Kingdom, and Envision Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based fund focused on software for big data, the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) and security. The consortium also includes Envision Energy, one of the largest renewable energy developers and technology providers in the world with over 50 gigawatts of assets under management. All existing AutoGrid investors, including E.ON, one of the largest utilities and renewable energy developers in the world, participated in the heavily oversubscribed round.

“Energy Impact Partners is focused on supporting companies that are optimizing energy consumption and improving sustainable energy generation,” said Michael Donnelly, the EIP Partner who will be joining AutoGrid’s board of directors. “AutoGrid offers unparalleled real-time connectivity and control with its software platform. Big data analytics and automated control of grid operations will allow utilities to adapt to the increasingly complex distributed energy environment. Having these capabilities in a system that is both scalable to millions of endpoints and rapidly deployable is a game changer.”

“We look to invest in and partner with category-leading big data and IoT software companies that transform markets and industries, so AutoGrid is right in our sweet spot,” said Dan Ahn, Managing Partner at Envision Ventures. “We are excited to become an investor in AutoGrid, and support their effort to transform the energy industry, making it both more efficient and sustainable.”

“AutoGrid has a great and proven platform that provides us with data science capability to better understand our customers’ energy production and consumption, and how to integrate both into our system,” said Susana Quintana-Plaza, Senior Vice President Innovation at E.ON.

The investment comes on the heels of a highly successful 2015, in which AutoGrid realized 100 percent year-over-year growth in annual recurring revenues and a 350 percent increase in distributed energy resources (DERs) under contract.

“We are excited to work with our global consortium of strategic investors, who not only bring the needed capital but the benefit of extensive interactions with their business units to inform our product roadmap,” said Dr. Amit Narayan, founder and CEO of AutoGrid. “This investment will help accelerate our mission of creating software that can leverage data to power our future energy needs, eliminating our dependence on unsustainable fossil-fuels.”

AutoGrid’s integrated suite of Energy Internet software applications enables energy service providers operating in increasingly competitive market environments to build next-generation renewable-friendly energy networks by managing and optimizing DERs in real-time while engaging customers, enhancing reliability and reducing operating expenses.