Energize Capital is proud to lead a $13 million Series B investment in Elum Energy, a frontrunner in advanced energy management solutions for renewable energy systems. Also participating in the round are returning investors Alter Equity and Cota Capital. Energize Principal Eileen Waris will join the Elum Energy board.
The renewable energy asset base is expanding at an unprecedented rate. Between 2023 and 2027, it is expected that global capacity for renewable energy will grow by 65%, accounting for over 42% of all electricity generation by 2028. In the U.S. this year, 97% of all new energy generation has been carbon-free, and solar installations alone have grown by 12 GW—enough to power nine million homes. Amid this expansion, renewable energy systems have also become more complex. Many of these new projects are increasingly multi-asset systems; approximately a third of solar projects in the current interconnection queue include storage assets.
As this evolution pushes renewables projects beyond a one-size-fits all approach, stakeholders have begun to search for easier ways to control, monitor, maintain, and integrate their growing asset portfolios. However, many solutions in the market today are built for utility-scale applications, leaving smaller-scale or C&I operators scrambling with costly, time-intensive or inflexible solutions. New flexible solutions are becoming vital, especially in emerging markets where complex C&I and microgrid systems are increasingly dominant, and where clean energy investment can yield outsized impacts.
Enter Elum Energy, an energy and automation company that supplies cost-effective monitoring, control, and analysis of hybrid energy systems. With over 2,500 projects in 50 countries and more than 350 clients, Elum has become an essential player for C&I, microgrid, and utility-scale developers of integrated solar energy systems across Europe, Africa, Latin America, MENA and APAC. Elum’s asset-agnostic and future-proof controller enables customers to maximize solar penetration while ensuring grid stability, making it easy to connect and operate any installations. Once connected, Elum’s software allows operators to orchestrate their assets–like solar panels, batteries, EVs, or diesel generators–to ensure reliable and efficient energy output. Elum also helps customers understand the data output from their assets, providing valuable insights like predictive maintenance and productivity metrics, thereby improving operational efficiency and boosting energy yield.
At Energize, we invest in climate solutions that enable the energy transition. Since our inception, we have been deeply engaged in the solar space, and we’ve made investments in the design and deployment stage of the solar value chain. As the solar industry has matured, however, we have kept a close eye on solar operation and maintenance (O&M) and recognize Elum as a key player both in bringing new assets online and optimizing them once they are live. With the advent of multi-asset sites, a changing grid, and growing energy demand, we believe Elum is providing the solution that C&I and utility-scale applications are looking for: easy configuration, flexible control, visibility and analytics.
Elum Energy was founded in 2016 in France by Cyril Colin and Karim El Alami, now CEO and General Manager, respectively, who attended École Polytechnique and UC Berkeley together and share a background in energy and solar engineering. Their studies led them to multi-asset energy solutions, where they discovered a need for a scalable and flexible product that could control and integrate assets, thus facilitating the incorporation of renewables into any grid worldwide. Upon launching Elum, the pair surrounded themselves with other product experts and have since grown to 80 employees across the globe, with 10 offices including in Paris, South Africa, Morocco, and Brazil.
This new capital infusion will enable Elum to continue to expand its market reach, entering into the U.S. market and developing its product offerings. We are thrilled to partner with the Elum team and support them in their pursuit of this next chapter of growth.
