US-based grid management technology developer Sunverge has received $11m in funding from investors including Equinor Energy Ventures and Evergy Ventures, subsidiaries of power producer Equinor and energy utility Evergy.
The round was led by sustainability-focused investment firm Ecosystem Integrity Fund and it increased the total raised by Sunverge to $64.5m since it was founded in 2009.
Sunverge has built a software platform that enables utilities to effectively monitor and manage distributed energy resources (DERs): energy sourced from localised renewable energy systems that is dispatched to the main grid in addition to customers in the immediate vicinity.
The cash influx will help Sunverge mature its platform, which it aims to market to energy utilities looking to integrate DER into their core operations.
The company secured $36.5m in a 2016 series C round featuring Siemens Venture Capital, SB China Capital and Total Energy Ventures, which invest on behalf of appliance and industrial product maker Siemens, telecommunications firm SoftBank and oil and gas supplier Total.
Energy utility AGL Energy also backed the 2016 round, along with Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Sunverge had received $15m in a 2014 series B round that was led by Southern Cross Renewable Energy Fund – a VC partnership between SoftBank unit SBCVC and the Australian government – that included Siemens Venture Capital and Total Energy Ventures.