Neara, an AI-powered predictive modelling platform for critical infrastructure, secured €28 million in a Series C funding round led by EQT. Partners Group and Square Peg Capital participated, and existing investors Skip Capital and Prosus Ventures provided additional support.
Speaking to TFN, Jack Curtis, Chief Commercial Officer, shared: “The funding will accelerate Neara’s global operations and continued investment in AI across the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, and Asia Pacific. We’re addressing the growing challenges of energy resilience and infrastructure modernisation across multiple key verticals. Neara will significantly expand its machine learning research and product development to extract more insights from available data.”
What exactly does Neara do?
Founded in Australia in 2019 by Daniel Danilatos, Karamvir Singh, and Jack Curtis, Neara addresses infrastructure management and planning challenges, particularly in the utilities sector. The founders aim to leverage advanced technology, such as 3D modelling and machine learning, to create a platform to help utility companies manage their assets more efficiently and safely.
Unlike other companies, Neara’s technology combines whole-network analysis, large-scale geospatial analysis, and detailed physical simulation on a per-asset, per-component basis. This provides visibility into the poorly understood upstream and downstream implications across field operations.
Practically speaking, the model supports end-to-end network governance — from routine operational decisions to load-growth planning, emergency scenarios, and major grid-hardening investments — without requiring manual survey verification. Plus, Neara’s technology eliminates critical network governance silos, enabling utilities to validate investment decisions and measure outcomes.
As part of its growth strategy, the company opened its headquarters in London in 2023, aiming to serve its European clients, such as EQT and Partners Group, better and tap into the regional market for infrastructure management solutions. In a conversation with TFN, Curtis commented: “As in the electricity sector, infrastructure availability is often a key constraint to serving growing demand across growing populations for sectors like telecom and transportation. Leveraging existing infrastructure, rather than relying on entirely new assets, is a key path for telecom and broadband to accelerate satisfying that demand. “
Embracing the sustainability of the energy grid is a key
Global queues are full of renewable energy projects waiting to connect to the grid. Neara’s technology helps bring more renewable energy online faster in two key ways:
First – the company accelerates new transmission availability by 85% by simplifying the traditionally complex challenges of transmission design and construction.
Second – Neara’s technology empowers utilities to optimise the utilisation of existing infrastructure to make more room for renewable generation without waiting for new transmission. Neara’s modelling of one utility that serves 1 million customers found it could double its network capacity without requiring any new infrastructure. To this date, It has modelled over 12 million infrastructure assets covering more than 1.5 million miles across four continents.
Simply put, Neara’s technology enhances the European grid by improving reliability and resilience, effectively integrating renewable energy sources, and optimising maintenance and operations. It also reduces environmental impact and boosts climate resilience by preparing for extreme weather events.
AI is disrupting the energy industry. Here’s how
Recognised as one of the TIME100 most influential companies for its commitment to grid resilience and reliability, Neara’s AI-assisted predictive modelling software helps infrastructure owners make critical proactive decisions. It conducts precise analyses in hours or days that would otherwise take months or years in the field.
Neara uses AI and digital modelling technology to create hyper-accurate virtual models of critical infrastructure. Using electricity networks, utilities use the model to stress-test infrastructure, including power lines and pylons, by simulating extreme weather events such as flooding, high winds, wildfires, or soaring temperatures. These “digital test drives” allow utilities to safely and rapidly identify actions and early interventions to increase resilience and reduce power outages at scale.
Curtis continued: “Neara’s platform leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to construct 3D digital models of utility networks that are behaviorally and geometrically identical to field assets. Every asset bends, deforms, sags, and sways in response to high winds, heat waves, flood waters, and more — exactly as it would in the real world. Machine learning models extract more information and insights from often disparate and sometimes contradictory data sources.”
Investors are optimistic about the potential to disrupt the energy market
“EQT is focused on making responsible investments that address global challenges and drive innovation for a better future. Neara exemplifies this by empowering mission-critical service providers to enhance infrastructure reliability and efficiency, unlocking bottlenecks, and accelerating the energy transition in key markets,” added Sam Franklin, Managing Director of the EQT Infrastructure advisory team.
Cyrus Driver, Managing Director at Partners Group, said, “In many cases, infrastructure is lagging behind rapidly changing societal needs, including across the energy grid, transportation, and digital infrastructure. As a result, it’s never been more important that every dollar invested in infrastructure demonstrably improves performance. Neara’s industry-leading technology is essential for every asset owner to run high-functioning, resilient infrastructure. We have deep thematic conviction in Neara’s offering, and we are already working with management on multiple opportunities to deploy its solutions within Partners Group’s global network.”
The green road ahead
While Neara currently focuses on helping global electric utilities mitigate risks, the company will expand its modelling and simulation technology to improve resilience across a broader range of critical infrastructure, including telecoms and public transportation. Neara has already begun modelling broadband infrastructure throughout the United States to help providers accelerate efforts to connect underserved populations.
