Wireless Glue Networks, a US-based provider of real-time energy data services for corporations, has raised $4.5m in its series B round from a consortium including electric parts maker Toko Electric, an affiliate of Japan-based utility Tokyo Electric Power.
The other investors in the B round included Japan state and corporate-backed Innovation Network, Japan-based industrial group Hosiden and venture capital firm Clean Pacific Ventures.
Wireless Glue said there had been acute interest in demand response (DR) and energy management systems in Japan following the “Great East Japan Earthquake” of March 2011 and the resulting decrease in nuclear generation capacity.
Peter McCabe, executive president of Wireless Glue Networks, said: “Out of necessity, Japan is poised to be a leader in the world energy market.
“Our SmartEdge M2M [machine-to-machine] platform provides real-time control and energy data between buildings and the cloud for aggregated energy management and DR applications that is scalable and cost-effective because it utilizes existing infrastructure.”
In April, Toko Electric launched an intelligent network controller embedding Wireless Glue’s software (pictured).