As the European utilities landscape evolves and energy-as-a-service (EaaS) models are being increasingly adopted, there’s a growing demand for platforms that can serve as a bridge between energy companies and customers.
Swedish software company Eliq is one such platform. It offers a solution for monitoring electricity usage. The company offers a mobile app to its clients in order to monitor their electricity usage and demand patterns.
Eliq has raised €5M in a Series A round of funding, co-led by Inven Capital and Contrarian Ventures with participation from existing investors. Inven Capital’s general partner Petr Míkovec and Contrarian Ventures general partner Rokas Peciulaitis will join Eliq’s Board of Directors.
“The new funds will enable us to bring more solutions to the market quickly, as well as help in expansion as we look to grow our teams in both Gothenburg and London,” says Hakan Ludvigson, CEO, and co-founder of Eliq.
The investment brings Eliq’s total funding since its launch to €9M, and will help the company aggressively expand its sales and marketing efforts, as well as accelerate product development.
“Deregulation and the rising customer expectations for more actionable data insights, transparency, and dynamic two-way communication, has left established utilities incapable of retaining customers,” believes Rokas Peiculaitis, general partner, Contrarian Ventures. “There is a need for a platform to better engage the existing and new clients,” he adds.
SaaS for EaaS
Gothenburg-based Eliq is a SaaS-based mobile app for monitoring and optimising electricity use in order to gain a better understanding of the customers’ energy usage patterns.
The app also helps in taking in information from smart meters, connected devices and weather analytics to provide instant energy insights and promote efficiency.
In a way, it helps energy suppliers to engage with their customers via real-time personalised information communications.
According to the company, the Series A funding builds on an exceptional year for Eliq which saw a rapidly growing roster of clients, product and market momentum in the changing European energy retail landscape.
Since shifting the focus towards energy utilities in 2016, Eliq has partnered with a number of progressive utilities in Europe, including; Bristol Energy (UK), Robin Hood Energy (UK), Greenyellow (FR), Eidsiva Energi (NO), Vattenfall (SE) and a number of Swedish utilities via its partnership with the world’s largest system integrator CGI.
Image credits: Eliq