A TOTAL of £9m has been invested to the scale-up and international expansion of an intelligent energy and smart grid platform provider for Distributed Energy Resource Management.
GridBeyond, which was recently named a 2020 Global Cleantech 100 company, has successfully concluded its Series B financing round.
Michael Phelan, Chief Executive and Co-founder at GridBeyond, commented on the news: “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.”
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
• Electricity Supply Board (ESB)
• Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures
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.
Vera Pinto Pereira, CEO of EDP Comercial, added: “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, decentralisation of energy generation, and overall digitisation, 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.”
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.
