On Thursday, one of the world’s largest listed utilities, serving 80 million customers in the U.S. and U.K., National Grid, announced six new investments in power grid startups by its Silicon Valley-based corporate venture capital arm, National Grid Partners (NGP). The six new investments, totaling $24 million, bring the total number of startups in NGP’s portfolio to 35. The announcement was made to coincide with the United Nations’ COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, of which National Grid is a principal partner.
AptEdge of San Mateo, CA, which leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to help companies in the energy, technology and other industries transform their customer support operations.
Santa Clara, CA-based Cogniac, a provider of enterprise-class artificial intelligence image analysis to replace rote tasks with AI vision. Its technology reduces the cost of field engineering inspections for critical asset businesses such as utilities.
Finite State of Columbus, OH, which automates product security in connected devices and embedded systems for utilities and other critical infrastructure industries undergoing digital transformation.
Risilience, headquartered in Cambridge, UK, which helps companies plan and manage their transformation to net-zero emissions. The startup is an offshoot of the University of Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies.
Sync Computing, a startup in Cambridge, MA, spun out of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. It uses a groundbreaking optimization engine to help industries accelerate cloud computing, while also saving energy and reducing their carbon footprints.
TS Conductor, based in San Clemente, CA. Its technology replaces legacy materials in high-voltage electricity transmission lines with a next-generation conductor that doubles the lines’ capacity without the need to retrofit towers or other infrastructure.
Earlier today, NGP portfolio company Dragos announced a $200 million funding round in which NGP participated as a returning investor. The Series D round is believed to be the largest ever for an operational technology (OT) cybersecurity company. NGP first invested in Dragos in 2018, when National Grid began using the company’s industrial threat intelligence service to monitor global threats to industrial control systems.
“All these investments show we’re dedicated to backing innovators all over the world and playing a vital part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said National Grid’s Chief Technology and Innovation officer and Founder/President of NGP, Lisa Lambert.
Since launching in November 2018, NGP has invested $290 million in 35 startups and four specialty investment funds, leading more than 60 percent of its startup investment rounds, and achieved four successful exits. More than 70 percent of NGP’s portfolio companies have strategic engagements with National Grid to help transform its own operations Earlier this year, the company announced a fresh funding allocation of $150 million, which it plans to deploy in cooperation with other global utility companies as part of the NextGrid Alliance.
“We’re committed to building a smarter, more reliable energy future,” said Lambert, “and to supporting the technologies that will benefit the planet for generations.”
