On Wednesday, energy technology venture fund Climate Impact Capital announced that it has successfully led a Pre-Series A investment round of $1.3 million into remote microgrid management firm 60Hertz, bringing its total capital raised to $2.7 million. The round was co-led by emerging markets venture capital fund Factor[e], with major participation from the $47.5 million Pacific Northwest venture capital investor SeaChange Fund, Clean Energy Venture Group angels, and the Alaska Investor Network.
60Hertz, which happens to be woman-founded and owned, is the market’s only Social Impact CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) for remote energy assets and teams: so designated because its microgrid management system is designed for emerging markets, easy-to-use to operators without strong reading skills, and for use in rural or remote settings with limited bandwidth.
The company was founded by Piper Foster Wilder in 2017, along with co-founders Whitney Gantt and Tonya James. Since that time, the team has created and deployed maintenance software designed for low- and intermittent bandwidth in off-grid locations in Alaskan villages and Sub-Saharan African countries and for users new to technology, maintenance, and energy assets. Currently in active use supporting remote and critical microgrids in seven countries, 60Hertz facilitates maintenance on over $140 million of microgrid assets.
60Hertz plans to use this venture round to accelerate its growth in North American and Sub-Saharan African markets.
“Maintenance is a critical element of ensuring grid resiliency, as we saw during the near-collapse of the Texas ERCOT grid early in 2021,” Climate Impact Capital Founder Alex Rozenfeld said. “Microgrids will become an increasingly important part of the mainstream grid in the coming decades as we see more climate change driven mega weather events and 60Hertz will be part of the suite of solutions needed in that future.”
“The clean energy revolution is happening everywhere, not just in the cities and suburbs,” Clean Energy Venture Group Partner John Harper said. “Rural and remote power generation assets have a critical role in transitioning to a cleaner and more resilient future. 60Hertz’s CMMS is an essential tool in this effort. We’re eager to help 60Hertz Energy grow dramatically over the next several years.”
SeaChange Fund Partner Susan Preston, who is now a 60Hertz Director, noted that given only 2.8 percent of venture capital currently goes to female-founded startups, 60Hertz is a particular success story.
“I am delighted to start working with 60Hertz on the strategic pathway to further growth and success. I am particularly pleased to be working with an excellent CEO, Piper Foster Wilder.
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