D.C. tech startup Arcadia has made its second acquisition within about a month, in a bid to continue expanding its impact and footprint in the clean energy sector.
Arcadia has scooped up San Francisco's Nanogrid Technologies PBC, which helps electric car owners recharge at the cheapest rates. The deal aims to expand the local company’s platform technology — which allows residents to better manage their utility accounts and cut down on energy usage — to move deeper into the electric vehicle arena and other connected-home devices. The goal is to help more customers save money on their monthly power bills.
The companies declined to disclose terms of the transaction.
“At Arcadia, we know we can save [electric vehicle] customers hundreds of dollars a year by optimizing when they charge and finding them the best, personalized rates,” said Arcadia founder and CEO Kiran Bhatraju in a statement. “Integrating Arcadia’s nationwide utility data and billing platform with Nanogrid will enable the company to automate and deliver a seamless home energy experience — one that extends not just to EVs but to every price-responsive energy device in the home.”
Under the deal, all of Nanogrid’s employees will be joining Arcadia as full-time staff. That includes the West Coast company’s leadership, who will focus on building out and launching products that enable the Nanogrid technology, Bhatraju said in an email.
Arcadia and Nanogrid declined to disclose that headcount, but Nanogrid reports on LinkedIn that it’s fewer than 10 people.
Arcadia adds to its own 138-person team with this acquisition as it simultaneously hires for positions across engineering, marketing, analytics, member experience, product design and product management. It currently has a District headquarters and plans to open an office in New York City, the company told us previously.
The D.C. startup said it does not plan to maintain Nanogrid’s existing California footprint.
Nanogrid’s technology allows electric car owners to charge up for less money and cut carbon dioxide emissions in the process, said Nanogrid co-founder and CEO Jon McKay in an email. It achieves this by figuring out the cost of electricity at each hour of the day — and using data to determine when the grid near the driver’s house should have the most clean energy — and make sure the car pulls electricity into the battery only when it’s cheapest.
The deal came together after a mutual friend of both companies recommended they touch base, and it soon became clear joining forces made sense, according to the companies. It also isn’t Arcadia’s first foray into the electric vehicle space; rather, the clean tech company has had multiple partnerships with carmaker Audi to offer owners of its cars credits or free subscriptions for its platform.
Arcadia made its first acquisition, of Houston’s Real Simple Energy, in mid-March. That deal opened the door for Arcadia to offer in Texas community solar — which allows anyone to get cheaper and cleaner energy at home if they can’t install or afford solar panels. Now, the company is working with federal and state authorities to expand access to community solar, currently limited to 19 states that have passed legislation around it.
Arcadia — an Inno on Fire winner of 2020 — declined to disclose information about any plans for fundraising this year, but said it’s not counting out future acquisitions.
The company, which launched in 2014 as Arcadia Power, has raised a total $70 million to date, most in 2018 and 2019 from investors G2VP, Goldman Sachs, Energy Impact Partners, BoxGroup, Macquarie Capital and Inclusive Capital, among others.
