Trilliant, a company that works on the nation’s “Smart Grid“, has closed a $40 million funding round led by MissionPoint Capital Partners and zouk ventures. As part of the deal, Mark J. Lewis of MissionPoint and Anthony Fox of zouk will be joining the company’s Board of Directors.
Smart Grid refers to the improved power grid being rolled out nationwide (and in some European countries) that makes use of computers and advanced sensors to more efficiently distribute power, saving money and cutting back on emissions. Older power grids still rely on technology developed over a century ago, which has led the US Congress to pass the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, allotting $100M in funding every year between 2008-2012.
Earlier this year we saw another similarly large investment in more efficient power sources when Infinia raised $50 million for its renewable energy source, which combines a Stirling engine with a large solar collector.
It’s heartening to see innovation finally returning to a field that has been largely devoid of it since the last major break-through in 1954 (the world’s first nuclear power plant).
The automated metering industry is creating a lot of new startups and there is consolidation activity already started. Bayard group is massively investing in old and new companies in the space. With several billion dollars worth of projects on the way, you may want to watch this space more closely.
“Techcrunch – Group-edited blog about technology start-ups, particularly the Web 2.0 sector.
Interesting how an 8 year old company which has raised $40 mil is a “startup”
They went in thinking it was about Trillian. Once they found out they figured they might as well keep going with it.
how does it matter as long as its an interesting news in Tech domain?
You guys give TechCrunch too much crap. They’re the single best source for web 2.0 news…give them some kudos & respect, jeez.
fanboy
GridPoint is another start-up playing in the space. I spoke to them earlier this year and they are doing some really cool stuff (e-appliance generators, web portals for power consumption analytics, etc).