National Grid Expands Partnership with AutoGrid in Series D Investment

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AutoGrid and National Grid Partners have joined in a new direct investment agreement on the heels of two nationally-recognized energy industry project collaborations.

National Grid Partners, the investment arm of international energy leader National Grid, teamed with a set of strategic energy investors in September as part of the $32 million AutoGrid Series D investment round. National Grid also has participated in previous AutoGrid investment rounds through Energy Impact Partners (EIP).

The latest investment round was led by a global consortium of energy companies that, in addition to taking a financial stake, are partnering with AutoGrid on advanced applications of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven optimization, enabling predictive control of grid-edge assets.

"AutoGrid is one of our first direct investments," said Lisa Lambert, chief technology and innovation officer, National Grid, and SVP of National Grid Partners. "They have one of the best utility-focused AI teams in Silicon Valley, and we believe there is a tremendous market opportunity for them to grow rapidly over the next few years. We are also actively engaging AutoGrid to help meet our strategic objectives in the grid analytics category."

National Grid has been working with AutoGrid on several projects, including a gas demand-response pilot in New York that earned innovation awards from E Source and from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The partnership is in the second year of a three-year, multi-state program that uses AutoGrid flexible energy management software to manage 400 megawatts (MW) of flexible capacity through demand response and distributed energy resources.

"We are humbled by the faith and responsibility that National Grid and its peers among the world's energy leaders are placing in us as we transition to a new energy future," said Dr. Amit Narayan, AutoGrid chief executive officer. "This partnership is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities, learn new insights and drive forward our mission of accelerating the world's transition to clean, affordable and reliable energy."

About National Grid Partners:
National Grid Partners is the venture investment and innovation group of National Grid plc. NGP makes and manages strategically and financially attractive investments and leads company-wide innovation efforts. The organization will focus on innovation, incubation, corporate venture capital and business development providing a multi-functional approach to change the status quo. NGP is based in Silicon Valley with offices and team members in Los Gatos, San Francisco, Boston, London, and New York. Visit ngpartners.com or follow NGP on Twitter @ngpartners_.

About AutoGrid:
AutoGrid builds software applications that utilize artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and IoT technologies to enable a smarter and cleaner distributed energy world. The company's suite of flexibility management applications allows utilities, electricity retailers, renewable energy project developers and energy service providers to deliver clean, affordable and reliable energy by managing networked distributed energy resources (DERs) in real time and at scale. AutoGrid has more than 3,500 megawatts of flexible capacity from DERs under contract and its customer list includes National Grid, NextEra Energy, E.ON, Total, Xcel Energy, China Light and Power and over 30 other leading global energy companies around the world.

Media Contact:
Richard Miller
[email protected]

SOURCE AutoGrid