GridX Announces $40 Million in Series C Funding and Appoints New CEO
Investment to drive the development of rate analytics and complex billing solutions that accelerate our clean energy transition; industry veteran Chris Black takes the helm of fast-growing company
MILPITAS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GridX, the leading enterprise rate platform provider to modern utilities and energy technology companies, today announced it has closed $40 million in Series C funding led by Energy Impact Partners (EIP), a global investment platform leading the transition to a sustainable energy future. Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV), Sunfox Capital and NGP ETP also participated in the round with Hunter Horgan of MSV joining the company’s board of directors. GridX also announced that Chris Black has been appointed CEO of GridX. Both moves aim to speed the clean energy transition by accelerating the development of GridX’s leading rate analytics and complex billing solutions, and building out its sales and marketing, product, and engineering teams.
“Following our initial investment in GridX in 2021, the imperative to eliminate carbon from our economy has grown leaps and bounds,” said Lindsay Luger, Co-Founder & Partner, Energy Impact Partners. “While solutions to this generational challenge are still emerging, one thing is certain – electrification, adoption of distributed energy resources and increasingly complex rate structures demand the type of advanced analytics solutions provided by GridX.”
The energy industry is undergoing the largest transition since the advent of electricity. Utilities around the world have committed to dramatically reducing or eliminating carbon from our economy over the next 30 years. Critical to that effort is electrifying transportation and heating, increasing the adoption of distributed energy resources like smart thermostats, solar, and storage, and helping customers shift their usage to times of the day when energy is most sustainable. GridX sits at the intersection of these trends with analytics solutions that manage the deployment of increasingly complex rate structures.
From helping utilities design and implement new rates, to matching customers with those optimized for them, and accurately calculating the impact of energy-related actions on bills, GridX empowers energy suppliers to swiftly deploy new business models. Today, GridX works with some of the most innovative utilities and retail energy suppliers across North America, including Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, PSEG Long Island, and Consumers Energy, to serve more than 19 million homes and businesses.
“I can’t think of a more exciting industry to be in as energy professionals are literally reinventing the way we power our daily lives,” said Chris Black, CEO, GridX. “But with these innovations come increased complexity from the exponential growth in distributed energy resources like solar and electric vehicles. Unfortunately, this complexity is most often felt by energy consumers because we’ve struggled to translate the impact of these technologies into dollars and cents so people know exactly what they can expect to pay. Communicating energy impact is easy but conveying the bill impact is incredibly hard. GridX is unique in its ability to do exactly this for anyone with an energy value proposition to homes and businesses.”
Chris brings nearly 30 years of technology and operational expertise to GridX, most recently serving as a principal partner at Huck Capital, an investment firm at the forefront of building the next generation of sustainable, tech-enabled energy providers. Prior to that, he was CTO and COO at Tendril, an early pioneer and eventual leader in the home energy management space. While at Tendril, Chris was instrumental in executing an aggressive strategy to acquire the leading companies in the space to form a new entity. That company – Uplight – is now the industry’s leading technology partner for providers transitioning to the clean energy ecosystem.
About GridX, Inc.
GridX, Inc. partners with utilities and energy suppliers to transform their businesses and accelerate the clean energy transition. The company’s Enterprise Rate Platform helps these organizations to develop new products and business models to achieve their clean energy goals; quickly operationalize new offerings in their billing and settlement processes; and better engage with their customers for broader program adoption. GridX’s platform is used by leading utilities, retail energy suppliers and energy ecosystem OEMs to serve more than 19 million homes and businesses. For more information, visit www.gridx.com.
About Energy Impact Partners
Energy Impact Partners LP (EIP) is a global venture capital firm leading the transition to a sustainable future. EIP brings together entrepreneurs and the world’s most forward-looking energy and industrial companies to advance innovation. With over $2.0 billion in assets under management, EIP invests globally across venture, growth, credit, and infrastructure – and has a team of nearly 70 professionals based in its offices in New York, San Francisco, Palm Beach, London, Cologne, and Oslo. For more information on EIP, please visit www.energyimpactpartners.com.
About Moore Strategic Ventures
Moore Strategic Ventures, LLC is the privately held investment company for Louis M. Bacon, Founder and CEO of Moore Capital Management, LLC.
About Sunfox Capital
Sunfox Capital provides growth equity to businesses accelerating the energy transition. The firm leans on its deep energy system expertise to anticipate new challenges caused by the growth of solar, wind, storage and EVs. Sunfox then identifies and invests in exceptional management teams building and scaling the solutions to those challenges. The Sunfox team supports its portfolio companies with the capital, relationships, and expertise required to accelerate their growth. For more information, please visit www.sunfoxcapital.com.
About NGP ETP
NGP ETP focuses on investments that are part of the global transition toward a low carbon economy. NGP ETP partners with top tier management teams and invests growth equity in companies that drive or enable the growth of renewable energy, the electrification of our economy or the more efficient use of energy. Founded in 2005, NGP ETP is one of the most experienced energy transition investors in the industry. For additional information, visit www.ngpenergycapital.com/energy-transition.
NGP ETP is affiliated with NGP Energy Capital Management (“NGP”). Founded in 1988, NGP is a premier equity firm with over $20 billion of cumulative equity commitments organized to make strategic investments in the energy industry. For more information visit www.ngpenergycapital.com.
Contacts
Brad Langley
