permitting
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Vela Energy
Vela Energy builds AI execution agents for large-load energy projects, automating the procurement, permitting, and engineering-study work that stalls data center and utility interconnections. Founded by Tarun Batchu and Tony Li and backed by a16z Speedrun and Z Fellows, the company aims to be the intelligence layer that helps developers, utilities, and data centers move projects through the interconnection queue faster while keeping licensed engineers in control of every decision.
Continuum Industries
Continuum Industries is an infrastructure-technology company behind Optioneer, an AI-powered platform that helps utilities, developers and engineers plan large linear infrastructure - power lines, cables, water networks and pipelines. Optioneer analyses geospatial data and tests millions of routing alternatives against environmental, social, cost and technical criteria, producing a shortlist of viable options in hours rather than months. Founded in 2018 and headquartered across Edinburgh, London and New York, the company raised a $10M Series A in 2023 to accelerate the build-out of grid and water infrastructure needed for the energy transition.
Orenda, Inc
Orenda, Inc is a Brooklyn-based renewable energy company that develops, builds, and operates standalone battery energy storage projects across densely populated Downstate New York. Founded in 2020, Orenda handles the full lifecycle - site diligence, permitting, interconnection, engineering, construction, financing, and ongoing asset management - and pairs it with an AI/ML software platform that forecasts energy prices and optimizes when its battery fleets charge and discharge. The company claims roughly a 34% market share in New York City with a development pipeline of about 920 MW / 2.7 GWh, and is co-developing roughly 675 MW of distributed storage with the New York Power Authority.
Blumen Systems
Blumen Systems is a San Francisco software company building an AI-powered operating system for infrastructure permitting and environmental diligence. It fuses 2,000+ geospatial datasets, a nationwide database of local zoning and permitting rules across 3,200+ jurisdictions, and a decade of historic permit outcomes to flag fatal flaws and regulatory risk on energy and infrastructure sites in days instead of months. In 2025 its tools were used to evaluate roughly 60 GW of solar, battery, gas, and data-center projects.
Hannes Boehning
Hannes Boehning is the CEO and founder of Blumen Systems, a San Francisco-based AI company building environmental intelligence software that converts complex regulatory documents and geospatial datasets into permitting matrices, site layouts, and engineering documents for energy infrastructure developers. A Stanford-trained engineer and former Division I athlete, Boehning left roles at Rothschild & Co and Fortress Investment Group to found Blumen in 2023, raising $6.39M from Climate Capital to tackle one of the biggest bottlenecks in the clean energy transition: the permitting process.