GridPoint, a building energy management and optimization technology that decarbonizes commercial buildings, closed a $75 million strategic capital round this week led by the Sustainable Investing Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Shell Ventures, another veteran investor in GridPoint, also participated in the recent funding.
“GridPoint is an ideal fit for the climate and sustainability goals of our business and we believe the addressable market is massive with over 30 million commercial buildings under 200,000 square feet across the world,” said Vikas Agrawal, managing director within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Gridpoint, which was founded in 2006, focuses a large part of its technology on decarbonizing buildings. Its tech stack analyzes a business’s energy consumption and provides insight into how energy is being used, with an eye for operational inefficiencies.
In a recent interview with the SunCast podcast, GridPoint chief marketing officer Melissa Blanken explained that its solution is a hardware-enabled software. A piece of hardware goes into a commercial building on site to help manage building operations all around, the HVAC, as well as additional grid interactive resources.
“It’s a very low barrier to entry to not only meet energy efficiency goals but also sustainability goals,” Blanken said.
Through the platform, businesses can automate and control assets such as lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation systems. They can also integrate their sites with the grid. During times of surplus energy, participating businesses with renewable energy systems can supply energy to utilities, generating additional revenue and easing energy supply and demand challenges.
In 2015, CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel combustion in the U.S. building sector generated 565.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in direct emissions, or about 8.6% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making buildings the fourth highest emitting sector (after electric power, transportation, and industry), the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions reported.
According to GridPoint, the company will use the proceeds of this week’s investment to continue developing its technology platform – aiming to make buildings smarter and more sustainable through data analytics, intelligent automation and machine learning.
Gridpoint will also deploy a greater number of its solutions globally as well as scale its technology, sales, marketing, delivery and customer success teams.
The company’s business model has shown ample upwards trajectory in recent years with GridPoint reporting a 192% increase in capacity under management over 2020.
“We are now delighted to work closely with Goldman’s Sustainable Investing Group and Shell Ventures in this next, important chapter of GridPoint’s growth,” said Peter L. Corsell, Chairman & Founder of GridPoint and Global InfraTech Fund Partner at I Squared Capital.
Shell’s global corporate venture capital arm, Shell Ventures, is dedicated to advancing technologies and new business models that have the potential to accelerate the energy transition. It partners with companies that help lower emissions, electrify the energy system and increase data-based insights.
Other GridPoint investors include I Squared Capital, TOMS Capital, Twenty First Century Utilities, QVT Financial, Fortress Investment Group and Kensington Capital Partners.