US-based energy optimisation technology provider Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) secured more than $34m in a series B round yesterday that included energy utilities AGL Energy and Southern Company.
GE Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of industrial equipment producer General Electric, also took part in the round, which was led by investment firm Energy Impact Partners and backed by DBL Partners, Macquarie Capital and early investors including Arnold Schwarzenegger.
AMS has built a technology platform called Armada that combines energy storage and cloud analytics software in order to optimise distributed energy management for businesses and government customers, increasing energy efficiency and balance energy resources. It will use the cash to enter new markets.
The closure of the series B round increased the company’s overall funding to $52m, AMS said in a press release announcing the round. DBL Partners and Arnold Schwarzenegger had participated in AMS’s $18m series A round in 2015, which also featured energy utility Engie.
In addition to the equity funding raised by AMS, Macquarie Capital supplied $200m in financing to the company in July 2016 to support development and deployment of its systems.
Mark Lantrip, president and CEO of Southern Company Services, said: “AMS’s Armada platform stands out among [distributed energy resources] software solutions because it focuses on extracting maximum financial value for both utilities and energy consumers.
“What we like about AMS’s software platform is that it makes distributed resources part of the utility solution instead of the problem.”