Energy prices have been rising recently, and while Sense, a startup that provides real-time home energy intelligence’s main selling point is helping homes reduce emissions if you can cut a few ConEd bills.
Now the US-based Sense has raised a Series C funding of $105M led by Blue Earth Captial. Telus Ventures and MCJ Capital and also saw participation from existing investors Schneider Electric, Energy Impact Partners, Prelude Ventures and iRobot.
Fund utilisation
This current round of funding increases Sense’s total capital to just around $157M. The funds will be used to extend the business’s technology to more homes and to expand its worldwide reach to include Europe and Asia, according to the company.
Sense CEO Mike Phillips stated, “We started Sense with the goal of influencing climate change, beginning with the award-winning Sense Residential Energy Monitor for consumers, but we’ve always recognised that the quickest path to mass market adoption is to integrate our core technology into home infrastructure. With this funding, we will be able to collaborate with our key strategic partners to deliver Sense intelligence into millions more homes. Sense will play a crucial part in the energy transition and accelerate the drive to greater efficiency and electrification in homes by making the basic systems of houses smarter and engaging consumers.”
Sense, founded in 2013 by Christopher Micali, Mike Phillips, and Ryan Houlette, employs machine learning technology to deliver real-time insights on device activity, even for non-smart devices. Customers use Sense for a variety of purposes, including monitoring their household appliances, detecting whether they left equipment running, and determining ways to cut their energy expenses. Schneider Electric and Landis + Gyr, have both invested in Sense. Sense’s headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Tech at play
On the most basic level, the company’s service is rather straightforward: it provides home owners with improved visibility into their energy usage levels, allowing them to modify accordingly. The AI/ML-powered technology integrates with smart metres from businesses like Landis+Gyr and Schneider Electric. The company is betting on new buildings to integrate the technology directly into homes, delivering software updates to help keep things up to date for gear that is built to outlast your average consumer device. It is also compatible with solar panels, batteries, and generators.
Blue Earth Capital’s Global Head of Private Equity Direct Investments, Kayode Akinola, stated: “We believe Sense is well positioned to drive significant energy efficiency, increase flexible energy demand, improve grid edge visibility, and reduce carbon emissions as the market leader in home energy consumption data and analytics. We are excited to help Mike and the Sense team scale their operations.”
According to Guidehouse, global smart metre penetration will increase from 44 percent at the end of 2020 to 56 percent by the end of 2028, resulting in over 1.2 billion devices globally. Inside-the-meter analytics investments will expand at a CAGR of 13.3 percent, and solutions for demand-side control and energy efficiency will increase from around $1.6 billion in 2021 to nearly $5.4 billion in 2030.
