Splight is a grid-technology company that uses machine learning to squeeze more capacity out of the power lines that already exist. Its flagship product, Dynamic Congestion Management (DCM), reads real-time conditions on transmission lines and turns fast-responding assets like batteries and data centers into grid-stabilizing tools, unlocking up to twice the usable capacity without building a single new tower. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in San Francisco, the company targets utilities, grid operators, and the AI data centers straining the grid - it now manages more than 3 gigawatts of grid assets and has raised about $24.4M to expand across North America and Europe.
Dispel is an Austin, Texas-based operational technology (OT) cybersecurity company that builds a Zero Trust Engine for industrial control systems. Its platform combines secure remote access, real-time industrial data streaming, unified OT connectivity (OTFusion), and 24/7 threat monitoring, all built around Moving Target Defense - a technique that constantly shifts network paths so attackers never get a stable target. Dispel lets manufacturers, utilities, energy operators, and government agencies give vendors and engineers fast, audited access to plant equipment without the friction of legacy VPNs and jump boxes.
Zinier is a San Mateo-based enterprise software company that builds an AI-driven, no-code field service management (FSM) platform. It helps large organizations in telecom, utilities, energy and manufacturing schedule, dispatch and equip the technicians who install and maintain physical assets in the field. Its Studio Z no-code builders, Z Productivity Suite and generative-AI assistant Z Sidekick let companies tailor workflows and deploy specialized AI agents that automate routine coordination so human technicians can focus on the work only they can do.
Beacon Power Services (BPS) is an energy-technology company building data and grid-management software for Africa's power sector. Its AI-enabled platforms - Adora for real-time grid monitoring, CAIMS for utility asset and customer data, and the Xepp consumer app - help electricity distributors cut losses, prevent outages and digitize networks. Founded by aerospace engineer turned investment banker Bimbola Adisa, BPS now serves utilities reaching more than 50 million people across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and beyond, processing over a billion grid data points a day.
Texture is a New York-based climate-tech company building the operating system for the energy grid. Its AI-native software platform connects to any meter, device, or data source - solar arrays, batteries, EVs, AMI and SCADA feeds - and gives electric utilities, cooperatives, virtual power plant operators, and grid-services companies a single place to enroll devices, monitor the distribution system in real time, run demand-response and flexibility programs, and measure performance. Founded in 2023 by Sanjiv Sanghavi (co-founder of ClassPass), Texture aims to break the manufacturer 'walled gardens' that keep distributed energy resources from working together.
VEIR is a Woburn, Massachusetts company commercializing high-temperature superconducting power lines that move 5 to 10 times more electricity than conventional cables at the same voltage and footprint. Its key breakthrough is a passive, evaporative liquid-nitrogen cooling system that keeps superconductors cold without heavy machinery. Founded in 2019 out of Breakthrough Energy Ventures research, VEIR targets utilities, renewable developers, and increasingly the power-hungry AI data center market. It closed a $75M Series B in January 2025 led by Munich Re Ventures, with backing from Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund.
BrightAI is a Palo Alto-based physical AI company building Stateful OS, a platform that pairs edge sensors, robots, and multimodal AI models to monitor, inspect, and maintain critical infrastructure - pipes, power grids, HVAC systems, and more. Co-founded in 2019 by SmartThings creator Alex Hawkinson, the company crossed $80M in revenue while bootstrapped before raising a $51M Series A in July 2025.
GridX is the enterprise rate engine behind some of the largest utilities in North America, translating tangled tariffs into accurate bills, what-if scenarios, and personalized customer guidance as the grid transitions to clean energy.
Chris Black is the CEO of GridX, Inc., an enterprise energy technology platform serving major US utilities. With nearly 30 years in technology and operations, he has been a central figure in the clean energy software sector - as CTO/COO at Tendril, he orchestrated the acquisitions that formed Uplight (now valued at $1.5B+), then invested via Huck Capital before taking the helm at GridX in April 2022 during its $40M Series C round. Under his leadership, GridX calculates 49 million bills daily, serves 40 million meters under contract, and models 1,000+ tariffs for utilities including PG&E, Southern California Edison, and ComEd.
Diana Frappier is the co-founder of Promise, an Oakland-based AI-powered government payment platform that helps municipalities and utilities distribute relief, recover revenue, and automate eligibility checks at scale. A UC Hastings-trained lawyer turned social entrepreneur, she co-founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights with Van Jones in 1996, helped launch the first Green Jobs Corps in Oakland, and then pivoted to fintech after years running operations at Green For All and Honor. At Promise, she and CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins have raised over $48M and built a platform that has distributed $150M+ in government relief to hundreds of thousands of residents.
Matthew Rosenthal is CEO and Co-Founder of SewerAI, the AI-powered platform transforming how cities inspect and manage underground sewer infrastructure. A Carnegie Mellon-trained engineer who worked at Fitbit and founded Centosette (acquired 2010), Rosenthal pivoted into sewer tech after recognizing that one million miles of U.S. pipes were being assessed with 20-year-old software. SewerAI's Pioneer platform and AutoCode AI have now processed over 135 million feet of sewer inspection footage, slashing inspection costs by 40-70% and saving municipalities tens of millions of dollars. In June 2024, Rosenthal closed a $15M Series B led by Innovius Capital, bringing total funding to $18.5M.
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the co-founder and CEO of Promise, an Oakland-based govtech company valued at $520 million that helps municipalities and utilities offer zero-interest payment plans to struggling residents. A former union organizer turned labor federation executive turned music manager for Prince, she now runs a platform that has reached 5 million+ households across 20+ states, proving that treating people with dignity is not just ethical — it is a business model. Named #247 on the Forbes Self-Made 250, she built Promise from a YC Winter 2018 bet to a $23 million-funded company generating $33M+ in annual revenue.
Pano AI builds an integrated platform for early wildfire detection and situational awareness, combining 360-degree ultra-high-definition mountaintop cameras, satellite feeds, field sensors and AI models to spot fires within minutes of ignition. Used by fire agencies, electric utilities, governments and private landowners, Pano monitors nearly 30 million acres across the US, Canada and Australia from its San Francisco headquarters.
SewerAI is a Walnut Creek, California software company building AI for the people who keep the sewers running. Its Pioneer cloud platform and AutoCode computer vision tools help cities, utilities, engineers, and contractors inspect, code, and prioritize sewer pipe defects faster and more accurately than manual review.
Vikram Takru is the Co-Founder and CEO of KloudGin Inc., a Sunnyvale-based SaaS company building the utility industry's only cloud-native, mobile-first combined field service and enterprise asset management platform. With over 27 years of enterprise software experience and two successful exits - including growing Frontline Consulting Services (FCS) to 500+ employees and $40M+ revenue before its 2012 acquisition by TEKSystems - Takru brings a rare blend of deep R&D roots (Oracle) and street-level execution to one of infrastructure's most underserved technology gaps. Under his leadership, KloudGin has developed the 'Single Face of Work' platform powered by its AssetIQ AI co-pilot, raised $16.4M in total funding, and built a team of 240 serving electric, gas, and water utilities across the United States.
SPAN builds smart electrical panels that turn the most ignored box in the house into the control center for solar, batteries, EVs and heat pumps. Founded in 2018 by former Tesla Powerwall lead Arch Rao, the company sells to homeowners through installers and to utilities through its SPAN Edge program for grid-edge load management.
Robert 'Bob' Felton is a serial entrepreneur and nuclear-turned-software pioneer who has founded three enterprise software companies over a 40-year career - TENERA, Indus International, and DevonWay - each leveraging new computing paradigms to serve the nuclear and utilities industries. After Ideagen acquired DevonWay in September 2023, Felton now serves as CEO of Ideagen EHS, bringing his lifelong mission of transforming industrial operations through software full circle. A Cornell-trained mechanical engineer and decorated Navy submarine officer, Felton coined the term 'Enterprise Asset Management' alongside Gartner Group and took two companies public before building DevonWay's no-code platform for EHS, quality, and workforce management.
Zach Robin is the CEO of Recurve, a San Francisco-based clean energy software company building the leading demand-side platform for utilities, aggregators, and implementers. A computer scientist turned energy entrepreneur, Zach has spent two decades at the intersection of software and grid modernization — from scaling product at EnerNOC through its Enel acquisition, to co-founding Hatch Data and growing it into North America's top real estate decarbonization platform (acquired by Measurabl), to now leading Recurve's FLEX platform, which manages 54 million meters nationwide and powers performance-based clean energy programs across the country.