BP Ventures has led a Series A funding round in Grid Edge, a developer of artificial intelligence (AI) technology that enables customers to predict, control and optimise their building’s energy profile.
The investment is in support of BP Alternative Energy’s wider strategy of low-carbon power, storage and digital energy.
Nacho Gimenez, Managing Director, BP Ventures will be taking up a director seat on the board of Grid Edge.
BP had announced yesterday its first venture into artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the PRC through $3.6 million in the capital equity of the Chinese AI energy management tech specialist R&B.
Jin Hu, BP Ventures Investment Manager will be taking up a director seat on the board of R&B.
Using data including weather forecasts and expected occupancy, Grid Edge’s predictive energy management technology enables customers to adapt their energy use, leverage periods of high renewable power generation, and effectively use their building’s flexibility in energy demand and generation like a giant battery, to reduce costs and carbon emissions.
The technology typically enables customers to lower carbon emissions by 10 to 15%, with some registering a reduction of more than 30%. Airports, business districts and shopping centres can all benefit from the technology.
Grid Edge was spun out of Aston University’s Energy Research Institute in 2016 and established as an stand alone business by three of this Institute members. The tech solution uses AI to empower customers, businesses and other organisations to make the most of their energy assets.
The company provides a proprietary Software-as-a-Service solution, underpinned by machine learning, to manage the energy profile of industrial and commercial spaces. Grid Edge seeks to empower energy managers by providing insights to ease decision making.
This British startup has been recently recognised as the Winner of the Innovation of the Year in Systems and Controls at the Cooling Awards in London.
R&B’s energy management systems are designed to predict, control and improve a building’s energy use, supporting BP Alternative Energy’s focus on low-carbon power, storage, digital energy value chain and wider Energy as a Service (EaaS) offers.
Buildings currently account for one third of the world’s total energy consumption. R&B’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applies AI techniques to energy diagnostics and optimization in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector, processing data to generate valuable insights and recommendations of how to improve energy efficiency and enhance predictive maintenance in buildings. This enables building managers to make informed decisions to optimise energy performance and, as a result, reduce carbon emissions.
The investement in R&B
The $3.6 million investment is part of R&B’s latest funding round, which was led by BP Ventures and supported by CLP Innovation Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of CLP Holdings Limited, and JAFCO Asia.
This operation, the latest investment carried out by BP Ventures in the PRC, follows that into PowerShare, a leading software solution provider for electric vehicle sharing, last year and a $10 million investment in NIO Capital to explore opportunities in advanced mobility in 2018.
Through its venturing business, BP is leveraging a wide range of investments in technology-related businesses that have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in BP’s operations, improve products and services to help customers lower their emissions, and creating new low carbon businesses.
Dev Sanyal, BP Alternative Energy chief executive and executive vice president, regions, said: “Digital technology, smarter consumers and bold decarbonisation targets are together rapidly changing the world’s energy systems. BP is determined to help meet society’s demands for more energy, delivered in new and cleaner ways. Our investment in R&B, a business developing and deploying innovative technology to improve energy efficiency, is fully aligned with this strategy.”
Glenn Wu, COO & CTO of R&B Technology, said: “R&B has spent years developing its core product, BeOP, an AI platform that navigates principles and relationships between data and data, things and things, and data and things. We are delighted to be partnering with BP, one of the world’s leading energy companies, to empower the energy industry with AI that enables unprecedented automation and smartness in digital energy.”
Graham Howes, managing director of BP Ventures, Asia, said: “Improving the energy efficiency of buildings will be crucial for the transition to a lower-carbon world. The C&I buildings sector in China is large and still expanding, so the potential to affect change is significant. R&B’s technology is aimed firmly at this important opportunity.”
BP Ventures is actively looking at direct investment opportunities in China in BP’s five strategic areas: advanced mobility; power and storage; carbon management; bio- and low carbon products and digital transformation.
All BP Venture’s operations carried out in the PRC add to another two investments, one in Grid Edge, A UK-based developer of artificial intelligence (AI) technology that enables customers to predict, control and optimise their building’s energy profile; and another one in Voltaware, the developer of electricity sensor and comprehensive AI-based electricity data intelligence platform specialising in energy disaggregation, predictive maintenance of equipment and energy-saving advice.
The investment in Grid Edge
In a volatile energy system where the cost and carbon intensity of power literally changes with the wind, knowing what is going to happen next can give smart consumers a real advantage. Whether it is lowering their carbon footprint, reducing energy costs or maximising the comfort of their tenants and visitors, expalins BP.
Family office investment house Goldacre joined BP as co-investors in the funding round, enhences this way its portfolio of investments in technology for smart real estate and future cities.
This funding will enable Grid Edge to expand in the UK market, utilising existing partnerships in the real estate sector, and explore further opportunities in Europe. The company already works with some of the UK’s leading building operators.
Dev Sanyal, chief executive of BP Alternative Energy, said: “This investment is in support of our strategy to create an ecosystem of distinctive, digitally-enabled, low carbon businesses for commercial and industrial customers. This investment in Grid Edge complements other recent investments in companies in this area, such as Voltaware. We are excited by the possibilities that working together will bring.”
Nacho Gimenez, Managing director, BP Ventures, added: “Digital technologies are a critical component to drive the transition to a low-carbon future. Using data, we can unlock the flexibility in-built in existing energy systems. This is the most efficient way to reduce the carbon intensity and power consumption required to keep buildings comfortable. Grid Edge’s machine learning and data-driven approach is what really sets them apart. We look forward to working closely together and welcoming them to the BP Ventures family.”
Tom Anderson, chief executive, Grid Edge said: “It is only a few short years since the founding partners left Aston University to pursue our vision of putting data-driven, intelligent control into the hands of energy consumers and we’re proud to be working with some of the UK’s leading building operators to optimise their energy profile through our predictive AI technology. We are delighted to have brought on board two world-leading investors who believe in our vision and share our ambitions to change the way people use energy.”
Matthew Harris, Managing director, Goldacre, added: “Optimising energy demand is now an essential requirement of businesses and consumers. Reducing carbon emissions in a way that puts building operators in control and allows them to prioritise occupants’ comfort levels is a challenge, but one that can and will be solved through leveraging smarter digital technologies. This investment demonstrates that, for Goldacre, this is not simply an aspiration; it is being delivered today.”
Image over the headline.- Dev Sanyal (Chief Executive of BP Alternative Energy). © BP, plc.
