Berlin-based Circadian Technologies announced that it has raised €1.25M in a funding round led by BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures alongside Rockstart, Persistent Energy Capital, Great Stuff Ventures, Tofino Capital, and Ralicap Climate.
Circadian has developed an Energy Management System (EMS) Hardware- and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for solar developers and asset owners, particularly in African grid-challenged emerging market countries.
The startup says it will use the funding to expand its SaaS data platform functionality and scale operations to immediate demand.
“We want to empower renewable energy installers and strive to be the catalyst for the mass adoption of decentralised energy in growth markets. Circadian is currently scaling across Africa, where we want to extend the team, build out the platform’s functionalities, and drive further growth. The backing of our investors will be a tremendous help for this,” says CEO Mike Rosenberg.
Driving sustainable growth in emerging market
Circadian Technologies is a digital solutions provider that empowers solar developers and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to excel in the design, sales, financing, operation, and maintenance of solar and storage systems. They aim to accelerate the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables for emerging markets’ commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors.
Due to unreliable electrical grids in emerging markets like Africa, businesses often rely on diesel generators for power generation. However, diesel is expensive and polluting. Despite abundant sunshine, solar energy and storage solutions remain niche because they are complex and challenging to implement.
Circadian Cortex EMS hardware and Circadian One Cloud Platform significantly simplify rural Africa’s implementation of renewable energy systems.
“With their innovative technology, Circadian facilitates solar micro grids for companies in emerging markets, making an important contribution towards decarbonisation,” BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures managing director Greg Zavorotniy says.
“This is our first investment on the African continent, and we are excited to see more opportunities from companies looking to accelerate energy transition in the region,” adds Zavorotniy.
Circadian’s EMS and SaaS solutions for frontier markets
Circadian has partnered with Nigeria’s Royal Power & Energy (RPE) to provide solar and storage installations to 50 bank branches in the country. This expansion is part of Circadian’s mission to help businesses in frontier markets adopt renewable energy.
RPE’s target market is the C&I sector, where clients are eager to reduce their reliance on increasingly expensive diesel. Circadian’s technology helps RPE optimise the performance of its solar and storage systems, ensuring they have access to reliable and affordable energy.
Circadian provides its Cortex Remote Intelligence Hub on RPE’s site to connect to all energy assets. The platform’s built-in LTE modem ensures connectivity in areas where Wi-Fi is unreliable or non-existent. The software subscription includes GSM data in 190 countries and 600 carriers to support even the most remote deployments.
Data from the devices is aggregated locally and pushed to the Circadian One Cloud Platform to be processed and displayed in a user-friendly format. RPE also uploads local grid and diesel prices to clearly show the savings that customers can achieve by installing PV and battery systems.
With Circadian, RPE demonstrated its solutions’ power production and consumption to potential customers. This helps RPE to build trust and accelerate the sales cycle.
“Telecom tower companies and C&I customers in emerging and established markets want to reduce their diesel generator consumption by implementing renewable-powered microgrids. Circadian supports them with a hardware and SaaS platform that turns complex projects into plug-and-play solutions,” comments Max ter Horst, managing partner at Rockstar Energy,.
“In this way, the company greatly enables the scaling of renewable energy use among customers. We are thrilled to participate in this funding round, led by BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures, which will enable Circadian to expand its business even further,” ter Horst adds.