Ghent-based Powernaut, a software company, announced on Wednesday that it has secured €2.4M in funding led by Revent, joined by Seedcamp, Pitchdrive, and Syndicate One.
The Belgian company will use the capital injection to further accelerate its expansion across the Benelux region and beyond.
Talking about the expansion to Silicon Canals, Florentijn Degroote, CEO and co-founder, says, “In line with our mission, we are expanding our current partner base in the Netherlands with more energy management systems and asset manufacturers as we speak.”
“Because we believe that energy suppliers are in the best position to allow scalable remuneration to the end customer, we are improving our understanding of their needs and how our platform could help them, too,” he adds.
Currently, the energy industry faces significant challenges in transitioning away from fossil fuels, including grid instability from increased renewable energy, limited coordination of decentralised sources, and insufficient incentives for end-users to support the grid.
Powernaut: Managing energy supply through AI and software
Founded by Florentijn Degroote and Serge Morel, Powernaut aims to transform the energy sector by developing orchestration software for decentralised energy systems.
With a focus on software, AI, and energy engineering, the company aims to enhance energy efficiency for energy suppliers by integrating and managing flexible devices across their networks.
Powernaut’s software helps energy suppliers manage this design shift by optimising millions of decentralised devices.
“Powernaut reduces dependence on additional infrastructure investments and accelerates the adoption of renewables – in a way that people are compensated for their assets,” says Degroote.
This approach integrates local energy generation with the wider grid, balancing production with demand.
It enables energy suppliers to offer cost-effective solutions to consumers while reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The company’s Open Virtual Power Plant technology simplifies the integration of decentralised energy devices by orchestrating their operation to align with grid requirements.
“We consolidate data and control from diverse assets such as solar panels, batteries, and EV chargers into a single platform. This enables energy suppliers to optimise supply-demand balancing, reduce grid strain, and make decentralised flexibility accessible for trading desks,” explains Degroote.
“The intuitive software also ensures accurate customer compensation for device contributions, positioning the supplier more competitively in the market,” he adds.
Helping suppliers minimise expenses: Here’s how
The Belgian company helps energy suppliers reduce costs by minimising expenses related to mismatches between supply and demand, as well as optimising energy trading opportunities that can be offered to consumers through new types of supplier contracts.
In addition, customers who contribute devices like batteries or EV chargers can receive compensation for their participation, creating a shared financial benefit.
As a result, typical households utilising smart devices could see a potential reduction of 30-50 per cent in their electricity bills.
Serge Morel, co-founder and CTO of Powernaut, adds, “Our new decentralised system has the potential to save consumers and businesses across Europe more than €300B annually while cutting millions of tons of CO₂ emissions each year.”
Business model and revenue projection
Since its inception, the company has partnered with industry leaders managing over 200MW of decentralised energy assets, such as solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles.
This roughly equals 80 wind turbines or enough to power approximately 40,000 homes.
Regarding the business model, Powernaut operates as a platform provider for energy suppliers.
It generates revenue through the platform access fees, which are charged to suppliers for integrating and managing assets on the platform.
“We’re aiming to surpass the 1M ARR milestone at the start of 2026 and grow exponentially after,” reveals Degroote.
The investors
Revent is an early-stage venture fund that supports founders addressing system-critical problems in planetary and societal health.
“This investment comes at a perfect time,” says Henrik Grosse Hokamp, partner at Revent. “Powernaut is providing the technology needed to support decarbonisation, renewable energy rollout, and decentralisation, ultimately phasing out polluting power sources like gas plants.”
London-based Seedcamp is a seed fund that invests early in founders attacking global markets and solving real problems using technology.
Based out of Antwerp, Pitchdrive invests startups in pre-seed rounds across Europe and offers personalised and active support to their portfolio. It has invested in over 50 startups through two funds and is now starting to invest from its third fund.
Brussels-based Syndicate One is an angel investment group making early-stage investments into high-potential Belgium-based and Belgian-founded technology startups. The company pools founders’ expertise, network, and seed capital to help early Belgian startups reach the next level.
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