Post: GridBeyond Closes €10.5m Transaction to Support Company Growth Plans

GridBeyond Closes €10.5m Transaction to Support Company Growth Plans

GridBeyond, the leading intelligent energy & smart grid platform provider for Distributed Energy Resource Management, has successfully concluded its Series B financing round. A number of high-profile partners have invested in a €10.5m (£9m) transaction to support the scale-up of the business and international expansion.

The leading investor in the round was EDP –  Energias De Portugal, the Portuguese electric utility company and a global leader in the renewable energy sector. They were supported in the transaction by existing and new investors in the company:

• Act Venture Capital – a leading Irish venture capital firm
• Electricity Supply Board (ESB) – the leading Irish utility
• Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures – the Total Group’s venture capital arm that supports technologies and solutions that help companies reduce their carbon footprint

GridBeyond currently operates in the UK and Ireland and will use this new equity funding to further expand its business offerings, increase market share and establish operations in new territories. The company plans to double the workforce within the next three years and increase research and development to strengthen its global leadership position in driving innovation and advancement in smart grid markets.

Michael Phelan, Chief Executive and Co-founder at GridBeyond, commented: “The newly completed financing round sets GridBeyond on the path to increase the reach of our intelligent energy platform, delivering world leading AI and powerful automation capabilities to smart grid and energy markets. This supports our ambition to advance the transition of the global energy networks towards digitalisation, decarbonisation, and decentralisation. All while enhancing commercial and operational benefits for market participants through fast-acting automation and optimisation of demand and distributed generation.

“I would like to thank EDP, Act Venture Capital, ESB, and Total Carbon Neutrality Venture for their trust in GridBeyond, our expertise and technology. The new investment supports the business’ plans to further develop our award-winning energy technology platform, Point, and expand into new markets. We are looking forward to implementing the next stages of our development and accelerating our business growth plans over the coming months”.

For Vera Pinto Pereira, CEO of EDP Comercial, “this investment is driven by our ambition to gain experience in managing flexibility in distributed assets and seek new energy products and services that meet the changing needs of the energy customer, as well as by our objective to strengthen EDP’s international expansion. The changing paradigm of our sector, with the electrification of the economy, decentralization of energy generation, and overall digitalization, leads to the adoption of new technologies that, with the appropriate regulatory framework, allow for a more dynamic portfolio that includes the market’s participation in demand response through flexibility services, something we anticipate will be key to the adequate equilibrium of the electric system in the near future.”

Debbie Rennick at Act Venture Capital, commented: “As energy service markets grow and migration to the grid edge continues, there is increasing demand for an intelligent energy management platform with deep understanding of how to optimise value without disruption to energy assets.

“The team at GridBeyond have an excellent combination of strong domain expertise and an innovative platform to maximise the opportunity. We are delighted to continue supporting them along the journey to become the global market leader”.

Brian Ryan, Strategy Manager at ESB, commented: “ESB is pleased to announce today our further investment in our strategic partnership with GridBeyond, following a significant investment in 2016.

This relationship has allowed ESB’s Smart Energy Services division to leverage from GridBeyond cutting-edge technology, as part of our overall portfolio of energy solutions, to significantly reduce energy costs for large-scale energy users.”

“Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures is proud to invest in companies that contribute to a carbon-neutral future through their technological innovations. Our investments support Total’s ambition to become the responsible energy major”, commented Girish Nadkarni, Chief Executive Officer at Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures.

GridBeyond were represented in this transaction exclusively by Bryan, Garnier & Co.

In December 2019, global experts in the energy sector named GridBeyond the winner of the Grid Edge Award at the Global Energy Awards by S&P Global Platts. The prestigious award recognises innovation, leadership and outstanding performance throughout the entire energy system that advances the electric grid to most effectively link industrial and commercial energy users to utilities and the grid.

“The independent panel of judges was impressed with GridBeyond for their standout performance in Grid Edge category and their commitment to the energy industry’s advancement,” said Martin Fraenkel, President of S&P Global Platts.

At the beginning of 2019, Frost & Sullivan, the leading global research, analytics and consultancy company, named GridBeyond as the winner of the 2019 Innovation Award for European Demand Response Technology. The experts referred to GridBeyond’s technology as ‘the paradigm-shifting DR solution [that] allows C&I and public sector consumers to monetise the flexibility in their energy consumption and effectively control the energy future.”

About GridBeyond

Transform energy into opportunity. GridBeyond is a global leader in intelligent energy technology for industrial, commercial, institutional and utility partners. Energy users are provided with the ability to manage and control demand response participation, energy performance, markets and costs via the multi-award-winning AI Point platform.

By stacking various market opportunities and programmes, GridBeyond delivers demand response revenues, enhanced savings, strengthened operations and sustainability to over 400 I&C sites worldwide, including some of the planet’s best-loved brands. Furthermore, networks and utilities are empowered to optimise electricity supply and provide value-add opportunities to their customers.

By connecting grid operators, operational load, distributed generation, storage, EV charging and utilities to integrated energy services, GridBeyond’s vision is to build a shared energy economy that delivers sustainability, resilience, affordability and adaptability through collaboration and innovation.

GridBeyond was launched in 2010 and is home to the world’s first hybrid battery and demand network. A powerful combination of technological excellence, consultative approach and unrivalled expertise means that GridBeyond partners and clients have future-proof access to energy services.

About EDP

EDP – Energias de Portugal (listed in Euronext Lisbon) is a multinational, vertically integrated utility company. Throughout 40 years of history, the company has been building a relevant presence in the world energy scene, being present in 16 countries, in 4 continents. With more than 11.500 employees, it is present throughout the electricity value chain and in the gas commercialization activity. It provides electricity and gas to almost 11 million customers. EDP aims to lead the Energy Transition to create superior value through focused investments, with highlight to renewables and networks, continuous portfolio optimisation, solid balance sheet and low risk profile, efficient and digitally enabled operations and attractive shareholder remuneration.

Through EDP Renewables (Euronext: EDPR), the group has become a global leader in the renewable energy sector. It is the world’s fourth largest wind energy production company in the world and almost 70% of its energy is produced from renewable resources.

Act Venture Capital

Act Venture Capital (https://www.actventure.capital) is a leading and one of the longest established VC firms in Ireland.  Act’s investments are technology focussed; partnering with visionary founders from start-up to scale-up to create the most promising and innovative companies.  Act has raised over €450m across multiple funds and this investment is made from its fifth expansion fund, Act V.

About ESB

ESB is Ireland’s foremost energy company, established in 1927. Through innovation, expertise and investment, ESB is leading the way in developing a modern, efficient electricity system, capable of delivering sustainable and competitive energy supplies to our customers, from generation, through transmission and distribution to supply.

ESB is committed to working for a brighter energy future by investing in low-carbon generating technologies in Ireland and Great Britain, building smarter electricity networks in Ireland and working with others to find innovative solutions to today’s energy challenges. ESB’s business line Smart Energy Services offers businesses managed energy services through a partnership approach which leverages cutting-edge technology and funding solutions to reduce energy consumption and costs for the industrial and commercial sectors.

About Total & Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures

Total is a major energy player that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and low-carbon electricity. Its 100,000 employees are committed to better energy that is safer, more affordable, cleaner and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, Total’s ambition is to become the responsible energy major.

With an investment capacity of $400 million within five years, Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures is the venture capital arm of Total focused on finding, funding and fostering high-potential start-ups which will contribute to creating a low carbon future. Current areas of interest include Renewables, Distributed Energy, New Mobility, Energy Access, Energy Storage, Bio-Plastics & Recycling, Artificial Intelligence, and IoT.