Power grid orchestration software provider Camus Energy announced today the closing of a $10 million extension to its Series A funding, bringing the total raised in the round to $25 million, with proceeds aimed at supporting the growth of its solutions to enable grid operators to address booming electricity demand.
Founded in 2019 by CEO Astrid Atkinson, CTO Cody Smith and COO Michael Ryan, California-based Camus provides software enabling utilities to anticipate and actively manage local grid constraints and make informed infrastructure investments to serve growing electricity demand, in order to help accelerate the adoption of renewable energy and help reduce emissions. The company’s grid orchestration software platform uses data from power-producing utilities and transmission companies as well as distributed energy producers and consumers to provide a hub for modern utility operations and planning, providing real-time visibility, day-ahead forecasting, grid-aware control of local energy resources, and distribution system planning insights.
Camus said that its team’s experience helping design and scale distributed computing systems at Google, Amazon, and Meta enables it to analyze billions of data points and embrace the shift from model-reliant to data-driven grid management.
The financing comes as investment in grids is seen as a key component to enabling the achievement of global climate goals. According to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), 80 million kilometers of power lines will need to be added or replaced globally by 2040, roughly equal to the entire global grid today, with investment doubling to over $600 billion per year by 2030, in order to remain on track to achieve the Paris Agreement goal to limit temperature rise to 1.5 °C, and to keep up with the increasing deployment of new renewable energy capacity.
Proceeds from the financing will be used by the company to expand its customer base, invest in research and development, and grow its partner ecosystem. Since mid-2021, Camus said that it has increased its annual recurring revenue by 500%, expanded its customer base to utilities serving 2.9 million end consumers across nine states, and doubled its headcount. Camus’ customer portfolio now includes investor-owned utilities, rural electric cooperatives, generation and transmission operators, and community choice aggregators.
Camus CEO and Co-Founder Astrid Atkinson said:
“This round of funding couldn’t have come at a better time, with federal initiatives and consumer demand putting tremendous pressure on the energy transition within the power sector. Utilities are actively seeking out grid orchestration capabilities to integrate new sources of generation and demand. It’s our job to make that transition as smooth and efficient as possible.”
The round was co-led by climate firm Congruent Ventures and marketplace investor Wave Capital, with participation from Align Impact, Remarkable Ventures Climate fund (RVC), and Groundswell Ventures, alongside Congruent and Wave’s Limited Partners.
Abe Yokell, Managing Partner and Co-founder of Congruent Ventures said:
“This is an investment in the larger clean energy transition, since the Camus platform acts as the glue to usher in the era of 100% electrification. Camus’s software unlocks the full potential of both renewable power supply and growing electricity demand for the thousands of utilities managing the momentous challenge of expanding and decarbonizing the grid.”