AI-driven energy management firm AutoGrid announced the $32 million Series D funding secured from CLP Holdings Group, innogy, Ørstead, Tenaska and others. All existing investors; Energy Impact Partners, Envision Ventures, Total Energy Ventures, Clearsky Power & Technology Fund, E.ON and Foundation Capital also participated in this round, said the company.
With this round, the company has raised a total of $75 million in funding. The company said it was hiring aggressively in energy, AI, big data and Internet of Things (IoT) areas to develop the capacity to manage increasingly larger-scale and complex grid modernization and digital transformation projects across the globe. AutoGrid said it is on track to contract over 5,000 MW of flexible resources on its platform before the end of 2018, representing a compound annual growth rate of over 100 percent for each of the last three years.
“We are humbled by the trust and responsibility that some of the largest energy companies in the world are placing in us in their transformative journey towards a new energy future,” said Dr. Amit Narayan, AutoGrid chief executive officer. “We are excited by this investment, which will help us to drive forward our mission of accelerating the world's transition to clean, affordable and reliable energy.”
“Electricity is the energy of the 21st century. It's our belief that the transition to a new, clean energy world will be enabled through digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and IoT,” said Girish Nadkarni, president of Total Energy Ventures. “AutoGrid has clearly established itself as the industry leader in this space and our partnership with them will help shape the future of new energy.”
“At CLP we believe that energy flow is no longer a one-way transaction. By partnering with AutoGrid, we are learning to turn flexible energy resources into balanced real-time energy services. We're increasing productivity and value of our energy assets and unlocking the possibility of exciting new digital energy services for our customers,” said Austin R Bryan, senior director of innovation & ventures at CLP. “AutoGrid's platform enables a deeper understanding of the grid, delivering increased support to customers and ultimately giving them more choice and control. CLP is pleased to be a strategic investor and partner with AutoGrid.”
“AutoGrid leads worldwide in applying AI and big data technologies to the energy value-chain,” said Florian Kolb, managing director at innogy New Ventures. “Their unique platform meets our current and future innovation requirements to develop our regulated and deregulated businesses further.”
AutoGrid has evaluated the needs of DSM in India and is currently working with the Andhra Pradesh Government and APSPDCL to build and launch these programs which will create the basis for transformational changes in the electricity sector, claimed the company.
