GAITHERSBURG, Md., May 25, 2023 — Hememics Biotechnologies, Inc., developer of first-in-class, handheld, multiplexed biosensor platform that can test antibodies, antigens and molecular targets simultaneously, announced today the closing of a $2 million Seed 2 financing round. Participants of this round include a strategic investor, existing investors and Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO).
“I am extremely proud of what the company has achieved with the limited amount of resources,” said John Warden, Jr., CEO and Co-founder of Hememics Biotechnologies, Inc. “We have generated extremely favorable results from more than 100,000 biosensor experiments in the past nine months. The new funding will allow us to finalize our design, receive third-party validation, and develop early commercial customers.”
Dr. David Ho, Co-founder, President and CSO, added, “After seven years of development, the patented desiccation solution is the crucial step to enable the integration of biologics with graphene-based electronics, which required an additional four years of development. The new funding will help the company to accelerate its growth and gain early commercial success.
About Hememics Biotechnologies, Inc.
Hememics uniquely uses graphene-based sensors with our patented bio preservatives to bring handheld, lab-quality testing performance to wherever needed – whether it is a farm, emergency room or battlefield. Our rugged, low-cost platform consists of a portable, easy-to-use reader utilizing a single-use biochip with 32 sensors. Our sensors can be individually programmed to detect molecular, antigen and antibody targets. We put a whole lab in your hand so you can make decisions when and wherever necessary – simplifying workflows with results within minutes. www.hememics.com
According to data from Kruze Consulting, the percent of startups with too-big-to-fail bank accounts went from 9% in February to 72% in April
SAN FRANCISCO, May 25, 2023 — Based on data from 160+ venture fund startups and more than $2 billion in cash, startups have been flocking to the major banks like JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. In addition to new bank accounts, startups have also been moving cash into less risky vehicles like sweep and treasury accounts.
Percentage of startups with a funded banking relationship
Bank Deposits
In February of this year, only 9% of startups-maintained bank accounts at the major banks, but by April that number skyrocketed to 72%. Additionally, JP Morgan had basically no presence in the startup banking world but after the FRB took over JP Morgan now commands a 60% market share of startup bank accounts. Startups have also been changing the way they hold cash in the bank. At the end of February $1.5 billion of startup cash was held in checking and other “risky” accounts. By the end of March, that number declined by $400 million and has continued over the following months as startups move cash into sweep and treasury bond products.
“The banking landscape after SVB and FRB declines has not only impacted where startups bank, but also what accounts they hold it in. Recently, we’ve been seeing term sheets that require startups to maintain two banking relationships,” said Healy Jones, VP at Kruze Consulting. “While these measures have insulated startups from future banking failures, they also make it very easy for startups to move cash quickly between banks – making the possibility of mass withdrawals easier – since our data shows that the median startup now has two banking relationships today versus only one in February.”
The startup and venture ecosystem has adapted quickly to the recent volatility in the banking sector. Startups have positioned themselves wisely in order to minimize the impact of future banking failures, but their new capital deployment strategies have made it easier for startups to move cash quickly between banks which could make it harder for bank regulators to contain crises.
About Kruze Consulting Kruze provides Startup CFO Consulting to over 800+ startups in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, New York, and other major startup hubs. To date, Kruze’s clients have raised over $12 billion in venture capital and are market-leading Saas, software, eCommerce, eHealth and FinTech startups. Founded in 2012 by Vanessa Kruze, a Big Four alum, startup controller and CPA, the firm handles all things accounting, tax, finance, and HR. Everything including interim CFO Consulting, financial modeling, startup tax returns, venture debt consulting, 409A valuations, bookkeeping, AR/AP, and Seed/Series A/B Fundraising Preparation can be seamlessly handled by the professionals at Kruze. Visit https://kruzeconsulting.com/ to learn more.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 25, 2023 — Volition today has announced an $11M seed round led by Newark Venture Partners and Quiet Capital, with major participation from Lachy Groom, Alan Rutledge, Julian Capital, and Humba (Susa) Ventures. Volition is the first and only online industrial parts marketplace designed specifically for the needs of the hardware development world. It aims to accelerate the pace of hardware innovation by serving as the hub that organizes all of the world’s components.
“Volition is the first marketplace for the $2T industrial components industry that helps engineering and purchasing teams find and buy all of the parts they need to prototype and manufacture their designs,” said Nick Pinkston, co-founder and CEO of Volition. “My co-founders and I previously ran Plethora, a custom manufacturing company, and we spent far too much time just searching for the right parts to build our factory and our customers’ products. To solve for that, we built the world’s largest catalog of these components – 16M products and growing – by partnering with industrial distributors and using our uniquely scalable data technology to quickly list products for sale.”
The industrial distribution world has not kept pace with the broader eCommerce revolution, and this is even more acutely true for the 400,000 small and niche suppliers in the space. These teams are without the resources to build a sophisticated online store tailored to their customers’ specific technical needs, especially the massive cost required to create large catalogs of such highly complex products. Meanwhile, their customers are using phones and email to find and source the components they are looking for, a huge waste of time and money.
Now, these customers can use Volition to search across the largest collection of products ever assembled, and then filter down to just the products that meet their exact specifications. This is the first time this has ever been possible because generic marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba are unable to make sense of the vast array of structured product data required to produce this user experience.
To do this, Volition invented a new kind of product data engine able to upload and standardize a massive amount of supplier product content at a scale never before achieved. This system uses automation and AI to empower human experts to create a high quality catalog at scale. By solving this problem, Volition is able to organize the entirety of this industry’s products and make them searchable and purchasable in one place.
The company already boasts many customers from the Fortune 500 and beyond who collectively spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on these components. It has also signed a wide range of distributors, who already sell billions of dollars of these products, to list their full catalogs on their platform. This new funding allows them to further scale their marketplace, as well as build out new features that let customers improve their sourcing while increasing retention dramatically.
“We are in a critical moment for B2B commerce, where consumer trends are spilling over – and managers, as well as C-suite leadership, are looking for ways to modernize, simplify and create efficiencies around how they buy and sell products,” said Tom Wisniewski, Managing Partner at NVP. “B2B marketplaces like Volition – which serves a specific vertical with a set of tools that lower the barrier of entry for low-tech teams are positioned for easy adoption and fast growth. We believe that Nick and the Volition team have the perfect mix of startup grind and industry expertise to make real waves in the industrial components market with this model.”
Volition was founded by Nick Pinkston, Natalie Klapper, and Duffy Tilleman who all previously worked together at Plethora creating the world’s first “self-configuring” factory. They are also all lifelong hardware hobbyists: Nick building race cars, Natalie creating metal sculpture and jewelry, and Duffy with carpentry and construction. Born into a manufacturing family in the Western Pennsylvania Rust Belt, Nick (CEO) has been a manufacturing tech entrepreneur his entire career, on a mission to make hardware development as easy as software development. He created HackPittsburgh (the first makerspace in Pittsburgh) and CloudFab (custom manufacturing marketplace) before starting Plethora.
About Volition:
Founded in 2019, Volition is the only online industrial parts marketplace designed specifically for the needs of the hardware development world. It will accelerate the pace of hardware innovation by serving as the hub that organizes all of the world’s components. Learn more about Volition at: GoVolition.com
MEDIA CONTACT: Nick Pinkston (Founder/CEO) [email protected], 724-971-6818 (text first please)
Food tech leader will use funds to expand operations and accelerate its global commercial partnerships.
PETAH TIKVA, Israel, May 25, 2023 — Today, leading global food tech company DouxMatok has announced a rebrand to: Incredo LTD. The unveiling of the new name, based on the company’s signature product Incredo® Sugar, coincides with Incredo’s announcement that it has raised $30 million in a Series C funding round to further support research and development, integrate its product in a variety of applications and accelerate its commercial partnerships. This latest round of funding is led by dsm-firmenich Venturing and Sienna Venture Capital, along with strategic commercial partners such as Ferrero and investments from new investors including Teseo Capital and existing investors Pitango and BlueRed Partners, who led the previous round.
Incredo(R) Sugar
Incredo products
Incredo’s capital raise will help the company expand its research, development, and commercialisation efforts into its flagship product, Incredo® Sugar. Incredo Sugar is a first-of-its-kind, delicious, clean-label sugar reduction solution that reduces the amount of sugar in sweet foods by 30-50%, with no change in taste, mouthfeel, or texture, and no additions to the ingredients label. By binding real cane or beet sugar with trace amounts of a natural carrier, Incredo Sugar aids in the delivery of sugar molecules to sweet taste receptors on the tongue. This means that less sugar is required for the same level of sweetness.
“Now that our flagship product, Incredo Sugar, has become commercially available and is gaining more awareness within the industry, we have decided to simplify our communications by unifying our identity under the name ‘Incredo’ – a single, powerful brand that will be memorable to our customers as we gear up for a period of continuous growth and commercialisation,” said Ari Melamud, CEO of Incredo LTD.
Incredo’s latest round of funding comes on the heels of a successful 2022, when it announced partnerships with Batory Foods and Blommer Chocolate Company. Incredo is looking to accelerate commercialisation of Incredo Sugar in 2023, with new and increased availability across the US, Europe, and Israel.
“Incredo has developed one of the most promising innovations in the food space we’ve seen – a delicious affordable and clean-label product that can reduce the sugar in foods without additives or changes to taste,” said Isabelle Amiel-Azoulai, Managing Partner at Sienna Venture Capital. “Incredo has everything in the right place for Incredo Sugar to appear in products around the world, and our injection of capital will help support this mission-driven company to accelerate its growth.”
Incredo LTD (f.k.a. DouxMatok) is pioneering the development of efficient nutrition and flavour delivery technologies. Its flagship product is its first-of-its-kind sugar-based sugar reduction solution, Incredo® Sugar, which maximizes the efficiency of sugar delivery to the sweet taste receptors and maintains the same level of sweetness, enabling substantial sugar reduction without compromising taste, mouthfeel, or texture. Independent consumer and expert sensory panel tests have confirmed that, when using Incredo® Sugar, it is possible to reduce 30%-50% of the sugar levels in a wide range of food and snack products while retaining consumer preferences. For more information, please visit incredosugar.com, or follow along on LinkedIn.
About Incredo® Sugar
Recognized as a special mention in the ‘Best Inventions of 2020’ by TIME, Incredo® Sugar is the flagship product of Incredo LTD (f.k.a. DouxMatok), a global food tech company pioneering the development of efficient nutrition and flavour technologies and enabling tastier and healthier consumption of foods. Incredo® Sugar is a first-of-its-kind, clean-label, sugar-based sugar reduction solution that improves the efficiency of sugar delivery to the sweet taste receptors and achieves the same level of sweetness while enabling substantial sugar reduction without compromising taste, mouthfeel, or texture. Based on real cane sugar, this breakthrough, patented sugar reduction solution enables food manufacturers to develop delicious, better-for-you formulations that deliver great taste experiences and enhance nutritional values of sweet food products while reducing sugar. For more information, please visit incredosugar.com, or follow along on Facebook and Instagram.
About dsm-firmenich Venturing
dsm-firmenich Venturing is the corporate venturing arm of dsm-firmenich, innovators in nutrition, health, and beauty. dsm-firmenich reinvents, manufactures, and combines vital nutrients, flavors, and fragrances for the world’s growing population to thrive. With our comprehensive range of solutions, with natural and renewable ingredients and renowned science and technology capabilities, we work to create what is essential for life, desirable for consumers, and more sustainable for the planet. dsm-firmenich is a Swiss-Dutch company, listed on the Euronext Amsterdam, with operations in almost 60 countries and revenues of more than €12 billion. With a diverse, worldwide team of nearly 30,000 employees, we bring progress to life™ every day, everywhere, for billions of people.
About Sienna Venture Capital
Sienna Venture Capital is the subsidiary of Sienna Investment Managers dedicated to venture capital investments, founded by Isabelle Amiel-Azoulai and her team, Thomas Visan and Mikaël Pereira. Based in Paris, with an international network in the main technology hubs, Sienna Venture Capital invests in early-growth companies that aim to sustainably transform their sector and society according to their “Tech for Purpose” vision. The amounts invested per deal range from $5 million to $15 million. They will target companies in various sectors such as cybersecurity, fintech, digital health, foodtech, agritech, artificial intelligence, mobility, etc.
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 24, 2023 — Startup World Cup is back in Silicon Valley! The Silicon Valley Regional Competition is scheduled for August 3rd, 2023, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
Startup World Cup is looking for the best and the brightest startups to apply to compete. The selected Top 15 applicants will present on stage on August 3rd. The winner of this event will join the 50+ other global finalists at the Startup World Cup Grand Finale series, in which they will have the opportunity to win a $1,000,000 investment prize in San Francisco on December 1st, 2023.
Here are the Judges and Speakers confirmed to attend:
Bill Reichert (Partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures)
Jihong Kim (Managing Director at Samsung Ventures)
Ullas Naik (Founder at Streamlined Ventures)
Gwen Edwards (Managing Director at Golden Seeds)
Eric Rosenblum (Managing Partner at Foothill Ventures)
Ashmeet Sidana (Chief Engineer at Engineering Capital)
And others!
The Silicon Valley Regional Competition is part of the Startup World Cup global competition, with regional events in 50+ cities around the world, including thousands of entrepreneurs and hundreds of investors. The mission of Startup World Cup is to highlight the best technology startups around the world, and to connect those startups into the global innovation ecosystem.
Entrepreneurs who are not in the Silicon Valley region should check out regional competitions in their part of the world and the Series of Grand Finale events here: https://www.startupworldcup.io/grand-finale.
About Pegasus Tech Ventures Pegasus Tech Ventures is a global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley with $2 Billion in assets under management. Pegasus offers intellectual and financial capital to emerging technology companies around the world. In addition to offering institutional investors a top-tier venture capital investment approach, Pegasus also offers a unique Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model for large, global corporations that wish to partner with cutting-edge technology startups. For more information about Pegasus, please check out https://www.pegasustechventures.com.
TULSA, Okla., May 24, 2023 — FortySix Venture Capital LLC, (46VC), a Tulsa-based venture capital firm, is excited to announce its strategic investment in Exum Instruments’ Series A funding round, marking the first investment from their recently launched Kinetic Fund.
Exum Instruments, a Denver-based scientific instruments company, has developed the revolutionary Massbox™, a cutting-edge instrument that democratizes mass spectrometry analysis. Unlike traditional analytical tools that were primarily accessible to PhD chemists, the Massbox’s innovative design and user-friendly software empower individuals across various scientific disciplines to conduct accurate and efficient chemical characterization in a matter of minutes with mobile capability. For a variety of end users, this accelerates new material development, quality control, failure analysis and more.
This round of funding will play a pivotal role in supporting the company’s expansion plans. With the funding, Exum Instruments aims to establish a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, enabling them to scale up production significantly. This increased manufacturing capacity will not only meet the rapidly growing demand for the Massbox™ but also position Exum Instruments as a key player in the scientific instruments market. Massbox™ has been adopted by several manufacturing concerns and high-profile laboratories, including the Department of Energy national labs, Los Alamos National Lab and the SLAC Accelerator Lab. Tracy Poole, Managing Partner of 46VC had this to say about the investment: “We were excited to be in a position to join with a group of local investors like Energy Innovation Capital, Advantage Capital, Boyd Street Ventures, Alchemy Capital and Cortado Ventures to advance innovation in the materials and energy spaces and help bring a top-notch team of innovators to build in Tulsa“. Jeff Williams, Exum CEO stated, “We are thrilled and honored to receive support from some of the strongest VCs in the region, and we look forward to leveraging their broad experience and connections to fuel our growth.”
The investment will enhance the local economy and promote innovation in the region by generating 25-30 high-tech jobs in Tulsa. This significant contribution is made possible through 46VC’s special partnership with the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) leveraging OCAST’s recent investment of U.S. Treasury’s SSBCI funds in 46VC’s Kinetic Fund.
About 46VC
46VC is a venture capital fund manager based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 46VC has a regional strategy to invest in startups and technologies in the heartland region where it has unique access to deal flow and domain expertise. For media inquiries, please contact Tracy Poole, Managing Partner at 918-605-8321 or [email protected].
For more information on 46VC please visit the firm’s website at www.46.capital
About Exum Instruments
Exum Instruments is a scientific instrumentation company building instruments and software ecosystems to increase the speed of materials development and discovery, offering easy access to high performance at a low cost. Exum’s first instrument, The Massbox™, is the first Laser Ablation Laser Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (LALI-TOF-MS) on the market, capable of analyzing any sample you can throw at it – precisely, rapidly, and inexpensively.
ST. LOUIS, May 24, 2023 — Pluton Biosciences, a startup leveraging the power of microbes to create cost-effective innovative solutions that address sustainability challenges facing agriculture, announces the close of a $16.5 M Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Illumina Ventures and RA Capital, with participation from existing investors Fall Line Capital, The Grantham Foundation, and First In Ventures, as well as new investors Wollemi, Radicle Growth (first investment from their second fund), and iSelect.
“The funding will accelerate the development of Pluton’s flagship product, the Microbial Cover Crop™, through field trials and towards commercial partnerships,” remarked Elizabeth Gallegos, CEO of Pluton. “It will also enable us to expand our team, advance a microbial-derived pesticide to combat the fall armyworm, and harness the full potential of our Micromining™ platform to swiftly identify tailored solutions for agriculture.”
Illumina Ventures’ Charles Lin, PhD, who has joined Pluton’s Board of Directors, expressed his excitement about the fund’s first AgBio investment, “In the past two decades, we have witnessed how genomics revolutionized the landscape of human diagnostics and therapeutics. We expect genomics to also enable breakthroughs in agriculture. Pluton’s Micromining™ approach, combining genomics with rigorous data science, can unlock the potential of soil microbes for more sustainable agriculture and beyond.”
“Pluton’s technology will benefit farmers’ bottom lines as well as our environment,” said RA Capital’s Michael Gillespie, MD, who has also joined Pluton’s Board of Directors. “Microbial Cover Crops™ will enrich the soil with nitrogen to increase crop yields while reducing fertilizer costs, improving profits and sustainability, limiting erosion, and boosting both soil quality and carbon sequestration. We are proud to support Pluton in their work to improve nature’s toolkit and revolutionize agriculture.”
Concurrent with this investment, agricultural industry veterans Jerry Steiner and Neal Gutterson, Ph.D. also joined Pluton’s Board of Directors. Steiner, Board Executive Chair, is enthusiastic about Pluton’s promise to utilize discoveries to make a positive impact on both agriculture and climate, “Pluton’s vision of using the vast potential of microbial genetic diversity to make agriculture carbon-negative is inspiring. Our Micromining™ platform enables the vision, with field-level proof for the Microbial Cover Crop™ product building over the next few years. This product will complement many other innovations growers can use to improve their farms’ profitability while helping the planet.”
About Pluton: Pluton’s mission is to drive agriculture to a carbon-negative outcome by leveraging Micromining™ and cutting-edge genomic technologies through a revolutionary approach to identify and deploy beneficial microbes and their natural products. Pluton discovers novel microbes and develops world-changing solutions to the planet’s big problems, addressing challenges to climate and agriculture by tackling carbon sequestration and crop protection, sustainably improving the way we grow food. To learn more about Pluton Biosciences, please visit www.plutonbio.com
Microbial Cover Crop™, a product that sequesters carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere and deposits it into the soil.
About Illumina Ventures: Illumina Ventures is the leader in genomics and precision health investing, building the ecosystem and shaping innovation to accelerate the impact on human health. Independently managed, Illumina Ventures is an early-stage, value-add investor with a strategic partnership with Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN). Illumina Ventures helps entrepreneurs develop breakthrough science and technologies into market-leading companies to transform healthcare. The firm focuses on investments in life science tools, therapeutics, diagnostics, digital health, and environmental sciences. To learn more, visit illuminaventures.com
About RA Capital: RA Capital is a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in public and private healthcare and life science companies. The flexibility of its strategy allows RA Capital to provide seed funding to startups and to lead private, IPO, and follow-on financings for its portfolio companies, both facilitating the crossover process and allowing management teams to drive value creation from inception through commercialization. They are committed to fostering diversity at RA, in their portfolio companies, and in the broader biotech community.
About Wollemi: Wollemi is a global climate specialist investment firm. Wollemi is focused on investing in and supporting climate solutions businesses in the food and agriculture, energy transition, natural capital, and climate services sectors, with an aim of reducing or abating global greenhouse gas emissions. Their team has been at the forefront of climate investing for over 10 years, bringing together an unparalleled combination of industry experts with deep investor knowledge and operational expertise.
About Radicle Growth: Radicle Growth selects innovative, early-stage companies for investment, ensuring that disruptive AgTech & Food Tech companies reach their full potential. In addition to providing seed-stage capital, Radicle Growth provides a fertile environment for visionaries in the ag and food space to flourish. Their proprietary platform is one of a kind in the ag and food industry, filling a huge void in the market by identifying the most innovative technologies and accelerating them with a range of value-creation initiatives. To connect and learn more about Radicle Growth follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
UNMET, in Partnership with the WA Department of Commerce, is Aiming to Improve Access for WA-Based Startups to Venture Capital.
SEATTLE, May 24, 2023 — UNMET, a mission-based organization tasked with filling an unmet need for startups raising venture capital in the US, will hold its first West Coast conference – UNMET Washington 2023, in Seattle on September 13-14.
The conference is co-hosted by the Washington State Department of Commerce and Stout Street Capital, with strong community support from Technology Alliance and WTIA. UNMET Washington 2023 will feature about 60 of the fastest-growing early-stage startups from around the country, with a majority based in Washington.
“Commerce is honored to co-host the 2023 UNMET Conference in Seattle, the heart of Washington state’s booming tech industry. Our startup ecosystem has exploded beyond the Puget Sound region.” Said Chris Green, Assistant Director, Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness at the Washington State Department of Commerce. Chris added, “Companies with massive growth potential to become the next big thing are sprinkled all over the state, and this opportunity enables founders in underserved regions to connect with top early-stage investors. Thanks to events like UNMET, innovative companies that could have previously remained hidden from elite funders are getting a better shot at the spotlight.”
Cumulatively, UNMET WA 2023 is set to facilitate 500+ one-on-one meetings for startup founders and help facilitate valuable peer-peer and founder-investor connections. This event aims to build better connective tissue and resilience for the WA startup ecosystem. UNMET does this by engaging Government entities and Non-government organizations such as WTIA (Washington Technology Industry Association) and Technology Alliance. “WTIA is proud to support UNMET as it hosts its inaugural West Coast conference in Seattle,” said Michael Schutzler, CEO of WTIA. “By providing direct access to investors from across the country, our region’s startups will have a chance to tell their stories to new networks. UNMET will help cement Washington’s reputation as a premier startup ecosystem, bringing new talent, funding, and visibility to our state.”
Laura Ruderman, CEO of Technology Alliance, said, “We’re thrilled to join forces with Stout Street Capital as they put on the UNMET conference in Seattle. This event is sure to be a great boost for the Washington state innovation ecosystem!”
The selected seed/series-A stage presenting companies will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with 6-8 investors on average. The conferences will attract over 75 institutional VC funds from around the country. The companies/startups presenting at the conference are selected through a competitive application process starting May 15th; interested startups/companies can apply here.
Stout Street Capital is a seed-stage fund that invests in underserved markets in the middle of the country and sees an average of 5,000 deals per year and co-invests with over 250 VCs around the country. Stout Street Capital seeks to invest in early-stage companies focused on improving efficiency and generating bottom-line value in large, established sectors in the market. Stout Street Capital is focused on enhancing the Series A/B-funding ecosystem in the middle of the country. UNMET is one of its primary instruments, which will help companies in underserved regions meet investors and attract capital.
The Department of Commerce is the one agency in state government that touches every aspect of community and economic development: planning, infrastructure, energy, public facilities, housing, public safety and crime victims, international trade, business services, and more. We work with local governments, tribes, businesses, and civic leaders throughout the state to strengthen communities so all residents may thrive and prosper.
About Technology Alliance
The Technology Alliance is a statewide, non-profit organization of leaders from Washington’s technology-based businesses and research institutions united by our vision of a vibrant innovation economy that benefits all of our state’s citizens. Through programs, events, data analysis, and policy activities, we advance excellence in education, research, and entrepreneurship to support the growth of our high-impact industries, creating high-wage jobs; and economic prosperity for our entire state.
About WTIA (Washington Technology Industry Association)
WTIA is a coalition of like-minded innovators and problem solvers who believe in harnessing the transformative potential of technology and our collective strengths to build a better, brighter world for everyone. We lead, support, and learn from our partners to create an innovative vision toward a just and equitable technology sector where all people from diverse backgrounds thrive—not simply survive.
Utility-Friendly Solutions Support Rapid, Low-Cost Electrification
PHILADELPHIA, May 24, 2023 — ConnectDER, the company that provides fast connection adapters for solar and other distributed energy resources (DER), has announced the closing of a $27 million Series C funding round.
ConnectDER’s innovative meter collar technology provides a low-cost, one-hour install in a single device for upgrading residential electric power systems so homeowners can easily integrate grid-ready solar photovoltaic systems regardless of a home’s age or amperage limits. ConnectDER’s solution allows the installation of these systems without complex and expensive upgrades to circuit-breaker panels or in-home wiring, and without adding more amperage from the utility company. As a result, consumers save thousands of dollars in installation costs and components and shave off weeks to months of installation time. This is a highly scalable decarbonization solution for many lower-and moderate-income households who cannot afford to upgrade their circuit-breaker panels in order to install solar systems addressing critical energy access and equity issues. ConnectDER’s product is also well-positioned and can be optimized to offer easy connections for electric vehicle chargers and backup power systems in the near future.
According to a 2021 study, prohibitively expensive service panel upgrades are frequently required to support the additional energy demand of new, DER products like solar panels, EVs, heat pumps, and other smart appliances, representing a $100 billion impediment to residential electrification and the energy transition. ConnectDER’s innovative meter adapter platform helps bridge that gap, especially for underserved populations that more frequently live in older, underpowered homes.
According to Founder and CEO, Whit Fulton, “We’re blazing a technology path that will enable more people to switch to clean, safe, and resilient energy faster and at a dramatically lower cost. We couldn’t be more pleased with Rajan Gupta and the team at EIC — they’ve been enormously helpful in positioning us for our next phase of growth. We’ve already demonstrated the fundamental value of our high reliability and lowest cost offering and this new round gives us the fuel we need to manufacture and deliver our game-changing technology.”
Already operating in 17 states, including New York, Arizona, Vermont and Colorado, ConnectDER has deployed over 15,000 units nationally to date.
EIC Senior Managing Director, Rajan Gupta, will join the ConnectDER Board. “Increasing home electrification is a powerful trend driven by solar, storage, EV charging, and electrification of other home appliances,” Gupta said. “ConnectDER’s meter adapter packs in functionality right behind the electric meter, and dramatically reduces the cost and time for residential customers to adopt electrical solutions. We are thrilled to partner with the ConnectDER team on its journey to enable faster and cheaper electrification and decarbonization for the residential mass market.”
About ConnectDER ConnectDER unlocks the massive potential of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) by turning the meter socket into an all-in-one plug-in point for solar and storage systems, electric vehicles, and beyond, with specific benefits for the user, utility, and the environment. Our solutions decrease interconnection time, enhance safety, and decrease balance-of-system costs. For more information, visit www.ConnectDER.com.
About Energy Innovation Capital Energy Innovation Capital is the premier capital provider for innovators serving the energy industry. EIC provides early and growth-stage funding for visionary entrepreneurs tackling global energy challenges with transformative, market-leading solutions. EIC’s team leverages our industry expertise, networks and collaborative approach to help talented entrepreneurs push the boundaries of what’s possible and build great companies. To learn more, visit www.energyinnovationcapital.com.
