Energize Capital is proud to lead an $8 million investment in Grid Status, the modern data and analytics platform for the electric grid. This funding marks the company’s first institutional capital investment. Investors joining the round include Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross (NFDG Ventures), Rayburn Electric Cooperative and other individual investors. Energize partner Tyler Lancaster will join the Grid Status board. This investment underscores Energize’s continued focus on accelerating energy data access and analysis amidst the race to electrification at scale.
The U.S. electric grid is ballooning. Over 10 years, the number of entities interfacing with the grid is estimated to increase by 20 times – from 5,000 in 2015 to a projected 100,000 stakeholders in 2025, ranging from distributed solar utilities to EV charging companies(1). Reports from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) show grid planners expect nationwide electricity demand to grow 4.7% over the next five years. With peak demand growing by 38 GW, this is significantly higher than previous estimates and will require a massive transformation in energy generation, storage and distribution.
On top of this, the grid has also become more variable. Growing penetration by renewable sources has introduced new weather-dependent dynamics to the grid while the increased frequency of extreme weather events and aging critical infrastructure present new vulnerabilities to the system. In these conditions, the traditional means of compiling, cleaning and analyzing grid data on a daily or weekly basis can no longer keep up.
Real-time data is essential to inform the decision-making and product development that will power the modern grid. Already, there has been a surge of application-layer energy technologies, such as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems that rely upon clean, easy-to-use data across U.S. geographies to operate. Furthermore, Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) and their orchestration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) can only be effective in curbing grid load and optimizing energy delivery if fueled by accurate, smart data.
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Enter Grid Status. Already trusted by major utilities, renewables developers, and energy consulting firms, Grid Status addresses the challenges of the evolving grid by making grid data more accessible and understandable than ever. With a comprehensive, API-enabled platform for aggregating, standardizing, and analyzing energy data, Grid Status democratizes access to real-time and historical grid information. Energy professionals use its platform to easily view and leverage data on fuel mix, load, marginal prices, renewables adoption, and more.
With over 10,000 active users, Grid Status supports a diverse range of energy stakeholders by offering dashboards and analytics tools through Grid Status Pro and robust data access via APIs. Its applications are both broad and impactful: traditional energy companies use Grid Status to anticipate outages, DER-focused companies use it to optimize EV charging times, consultancies use it to track energy benchmarks, and the list goes on.
Grid Status aligns closely with Energize’s thesis of enabling the Electrification of Everything. By promoting visibility into the real-time status of the grid, Grid Status helps accelerate the deployment of new renewable assets. In tandem with other grid software solutions, its data platform will be critical to ensuring a smooth energy transition.
After more than five years of monitoring the development of the grid software ecosystem, we recognize that the grid market is primed for a data solution and that Grid Status stands out from incumbent solutions because of its transparency and ease of use. With its fast-paced and product-led approach, we believe Grid Status is the market leader we need to disrupt the status quo and enable a dynamic and responsive energy ecosystem.
With this new capital infusion, Grid Status plans to substantially grow its team, focusing on building out engineering, sales and marketing functions. The company will also continue to invest in its product, expanding data sets and adding features and functionality. Energize is excited to support Grid Status through this next stage of growth, leveraging our networks across the energy and mobility industries and experience in scaling climate software businesses to help Grid Status build an energy future that is accessible, accurate and agile.
1) Energize Analysis
