Plexigrid, a climate tech startup from Asturias that contributes to the energy transition by making electric grids more efficient and flexible through digitalization, has just raised €4.5M in its seed round.
Investors include Swedish Polar Structure, Vargas Holding, and TheVentureCity.
Despite the weakness of the capital market, the company received a strong valuation, and the investment round was oversubscribed.
This demonstrates widespread confidence in Plexigrid’s technology, which addresses a critical societal challenge, according to co-founder and CEO Alberto Méndez Rebollo, previously Regional CEO at Siemens-Gamesa and Head of Wind at Vattenfall.
“Unlike most people raising capital right now, we have had the opportunity to carefully choose who will own this company. We have brought in long-term players who have extensive experience in the energy transition and understand the need to adapt and streamline electricity networks around the world,” says Alberto Méndez Rebollo.
“In communities worldwide, the lack of network capacity presents challenges and bottlenecks that delay the energy transition. Plexigrid’s solution is revolutionizing how electricity network operators optimize existing infrastructure,” says Tobias Emanuelsson, CEO and founder, Polar Structure.
Flattening the energy curve
Plexigrid is used by electric grid operators to automatically adjust people’s energy consumption according to usage in their area.
It increases electricity supply to users when demand is low, and decreases supply when there’s so much demand it risks creating bottlenecks.
That means devices that do not require electricity at specific times – such as EV chargers – are supplied with electricity outside of peak usage times, such as during the night, without negatively impacting residents.
By simply “flattening the curve” of energy consumption, Plexigrid can reduce grid costs by 35 to 40 percent.
It can enable grid operators to meet users’ rising electricity demands, while crucially getting more green energy online.
This also significantly reduces costs for the end consumers, who are often left footing the bill when grids are overloaded.
“Two years ago, we made the decision to support this extraordinary effort and the A-team that we believe has the vision and capacity to solve one of the largest challenges of the energy transition. Now Plexigrid is being recognized as a thought and technology leader in its segment. The decision to renew our investment was unanimous,” comments Andrés Dancausa, Managing Partner for EMEA at TheVentureCity.
Plexigrid’s technology is based on creating a real-time digital twin of the electricity grid.
In October 2022 the European Commission predicted investments of €170 billion by 2030 to digitize electricity networks, and identified digital twins as an important part of the solution.
At the same time, a major change in policy and regulation of the energy sector is underway to drive a more innovative, efficient, and green electricity system.
