HOUSTON, Aug. 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Branch Energy, a tech-driven retail energy provider, raised $10.8 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round, led by Prelude Ventures, a climate-focused venture capital firm, alongside co-investor Zero Infinity Partners, an infra-tech investor. Branch Energy is a vertically integrated power provider that balances the grid and provides businesses with long-term energy stability through demand management software and advanced on-site battery storage systems. This integrated approach allows Branch Energy to provide customers with 100% clean energy at lower costs than its competitors while helping to avoid blackouts. The new financing will accelerate the development of Branch Energy’s battery management platform and build out its field services infrastructure.
Branch Energy identified Texas as its first market due to the amount of stress on the state’s grid. Extreme weather events like Hurricane Beryl are becoming more frequent, and combined with accelerating extreme heat, put significant strain on the grid. The state experiences thousands of outages every year, and Texans need reliable and affordable power that is more responsive to real-time conditions and grid-connected devices. Branch Energy provides electricity from 100% renewable sources, supporting local wind and solar projects, and through its no-cost battery storage systems, enables customers to more flexibly manage demand on the grid.
“Our century-old grid design is not equipped for the complexity of today’s energy needs”, said Alex Ince-Cushman, Branch Energy Co-Founder and CEO. “Optimizing distributed energy assets in real-time will play an increasingly important role in managing the grid. We built Branch from the ground up as a technology company, allowing us to deliver value to customers in this new era of distributed energy by reducing costs while improving reliability. We are thrilled to receive this funding from Prelude Ventures and Zero Infinity Partners to help us accelerate the delivery of reliable, green, and affordable power to customers.”
Since launching in 2021, Branch Energy has signed up thousands of customers for 100% clean energy solutions. In that time, Branch Energy has built the capacity and infrastructure to serve those customers affordably. The cost to pull electricity from the grid is cheapest in the morning when Branch pulls most of its energy. When electricity becomes more expensive later in the day, Branch discharges its batteries to keep costs low for its users. Branch Energy can reduce its customers’ energy bills by 5-10%, which can translate to tens of thousands of dollars of savings per year for commercial users.
“The power grid, especially in Texas, requires distributed generation and flexible loads as basic economics drives deployment of more renewable resources,” said Tim Woodward, Managing Partner at Prelude Ventures. “Across the country, we are experiencing a major shift toward a decentralized and decarbonized grid. Branch Energy is bringing value to its customers through deployment of intelligent storage that lowers costs and improves reliability.”
Branch Energy is available today in select Texas regions. Learn more about availability in your area here.
About Branch Energy
Branch Energy is a technology company that makes it easy for customers to lower their energy bills and carbon footprint while providing dramatically better customer experiences than incumbents. Branch Energy uses data & AI to determine which smart devices reduce a building’s energy bill the most and then helps finance and install those devices, saving customers money while they switch to clean energy sources.
About Prelude Ventures
Prelude Ventures is a climate-focused venture capital firm that invests in and supports early-stage startups with the greatest potential to mitigate climate change. For over a decade, Prelude Ventures has sought out purpose-driven founders and provided the capital and expertise needed to build the next generation of category-defining businesses that will reshape our global economy for the greater good of people and the planet. Located in San Francisco, Prelude Ventures has approximately $2 billion under management.
About Zero Infinity Partners
Zero Infinity Partners (ZIP) is pioneering the infra-tech investing category. ZIP invests in founders and companies looking to deploy innovative technologies and business ideas in the global infrastructure sectors, including energy, power, mobility, logistics, data, water, and waste. ZIP offers the vision, discipline and deep infra ecosystem understanding essential to futureproofing and advancing the systems that keep the world in motion – through the following innovations: digitization & automation, decarbonization & electrification, and differentiated project development.
