Isra-Mart srl:GE flicks switch on $55m investment for smart grid startups

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Isra-Mart srl news:

General Electric yesterday announced that it has partnered with a group of venture capital firms to invest $55m in a dozen startups and research projects working on emerging grid technologies.

The investment marks the first round of funding under the company's GE: Ecomagination Challenge, which will ultimately see $200m invested in smart grid firms, alongside venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield, RockPort Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures and Foundation Capital.

Foundation and RockPort yesterday emerged as the first two VCs to participate in the initiative, investing in the $55m round along with GE.

Speaking at an event in New York to mark the first funding round, GE chief executive Jeff Immelt promised that further investments were in the pipeline over the next 12 to 18 months.

"This is the first innings of smart grid," he said. "The extent to which we do invest [in smart grid] will be like this – small software companies that we can scale, partnerships, those sort of things."

The first wave of 12 investments was selected after GE received nearly 4,000 proposals from more than 150 countries in response to its Ecomagination Challenge.

The company is now actively negotiating investments and commercial agreements with the selected projects, which cover a wide range of different smart grid technologies, including energy storage systems, demand management technologies, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

For example, one of the successful firms, Sweden-based ClimateWell, specialises in solar-powered heating systems, while Atlanta-based JouleX will receive funding to help accelerate the development of its smart grid management system, and California-based Soladigm has secured backing for its window technology, which electronically switches glass from clear to tinted on hot days.