# Tim Heidel

> Tim Heidel is the co-founder and CEO of VEIR, a Massachusetts startup building overhead superconducting transmission lines that can carry five to ten times the power of conventional lines on roughly the same footprint. An MIT-trained electrical engineer who ran the research behind MIT's Future of the Electric Grid study, then steered a portfolio of grid projects at ARPA-E and vetted climate bets at Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Heidel concluded that the grid's biggest bottleneck was transmission itself - too slow, too costly, too ugly to permit. VEIR is his answer: black pipes carrying superconducting tape bathed in liquid nitrogen at -321F, aimed squarely at AI data centers, utilities and renewable developers.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at VEIR
- **Organizations:** VEIR, MIT, ARPA-E, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** SB, Electrical Engineering, MIT (Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science), MEng, Electrical Engineering, MIT, MS, Technology and Policy, MIT (Technology and Policy Program), PhD, Electrical Engineering, MIT
- **Known for:** Co-founded VEIR and led it from CTO to CEO, Closed an oversubscribed $75M Series B in January 2025 led by Munich Re Ventures, with Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, National Grid Partners, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and others, Total funding of roughly $117M raised for VEIR

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Earns PhD in electrical engineering from MIT
- **2011** — Serves as research director for MIT's Future of the Electric Grid study
- **2011-2015** — Program Director at ARPA-E, managing 75+ grid research projects and launching the SWITCHES and GRID DATA programs
- **—** — Deputy Chief Scientist at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)
- **—** — Member of the investments team at Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV)
- **2019** — VEIR founded to commercialize superconducting transmission
- **2020** — Joins VEIR as Chief Technology Officer
- **2023** — Becomes Chief Executive Officer of VEIR
- **2024** — VEIR deploys its first 100-foot superconducting test line in Woburn, Massachusetts
- **2025** — VEIR closes an oversubscribed $75M Series B led by Munich Re Ventures

## Achievements

- Co-founded VEIR and led it from CTO to CEO
- Closed an oversubscribed $75M Series B in January 2025 led by Munich Re Ventures, with Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, National Grid Partners, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and others
- Total funding of roughly $117M raised for VEIR
- Managed a portfolio of 75+ research projects (over $150M federal funding) across six programs at ARPA-E
- Launched the ARPA-E SWITCHES and GRID DATA programs
- Research director for MIT's Future of the Electric Grid study
- Oversaw deployment of VEIR's first 100-foot overhead superconducting test line in Woburn, MA

## Latest updates

- **2025-01** — VEIR closed an oversubscribed $75M Series B led by Munich Re Ventures to accelerate commercialization for AI data centers, utilities and renewable developers.
- **2025-10** — Heidel featured in Energy Intelligence's 'In Conversation With' on the promise of superconductive power transmission.

## Links

- Website: https://veir.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timheidel/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tim-heidel
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-03