Copper Labs raises $5.5m to enhance smart control of energy demand

Copper Labs, a technology provider developing grid-edge data for gas, water and electric utilities, announced $5.5 million in Series A funds to guide utilities onto a smarter grid.

The funds were led by Clean Energy Ventures (CEV), a venture capital firm funding early-stage climate technology innovation and had follow-on participation from National Grid Partners and Blue Bear Capital.

Accelerating grid modernisation

With the new round of funding, Copper Labs plans to grow its sales, engineering and marketing teams over the next year to accelerate adoption nationally across utility territories.

Dan Forman, Copper Labs CEO, commented on the new round of funding and its potential to assist utilities, “For water and gas utilities that can only access meter data every thirty days, or electric municipal and cooperatives that lack the resources of larger investor-owned utilities, Copper and our partners deliver an affordable path to a smarter grid by leveraging existing meters and data backhaul networks, with or without smart meters.

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“Data is the key to building a more resilient grid and engaging the right consumers at the right time to create load flexibility.”

The news comes as utilities try to earn customer trust with personalized experiences while grappling with a decarbonized, decentralized and digitized grid.

Copper is a patented solution that aims to provide utilities with revenue-grade, real-time intelligence without the need for expensive overhauls that take years to start delivering value.

Data is the central pillar to the energy transition

Together with Copper, numerous utilities and solutions partners in the U.S. are leveraging real-time energy usage data for consumer engagement. This data is personalized to drive behaviour change while measuring and verifying program performance at the meter.

Later this year, Copper Labs plan to expand their product line beyond the current in-home hardware. They hope to offer a scalable neighbourhood-level solution that reduces deployment costs and timing to deliver real-time grid-edge intelligence.

With increasing urgency to decarbonise the grid, Copper Labs hopes to enable near real-time visibility into energy usage and voltage data. This would then create more predictable demand and a channel to engage targeted consumers when it matters most to the grid.

“We believe the technology, once adopted at scale, will contribute to mitigating over 2.5 gigatons of carbon emissions between now and 2050,” said David Miller, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Clean Energy Ventures. “As the need for the management and reduction of demand on the grid escalates, utilities and consumers are hungry for the data and intelligence that Copper Labs can uniquely and cost effectively provide.”