D.C.-based SparkMeter Inc. has raised $5 million from Honeywell Smart Energy to help expand its work bringing smart grid technology to small and medium-sized utility providers across the U.S. and expand access to reliable electricity abroad.
The strategic investment will allow Honeywell Smart Energy, a unit of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ: HON), to provide SparkMeter’s technology to its customers throughout the U.S. while giving SparkMeter additional resources to help it reach more customers in emerging markets across the globe, the companies said in an announcement Wednesday.
Founded in 2013, SparkMeter helps utilities assess how grids are performing, monitoring things like the quality of power and whether there are efficiencies the utility can tap into. Outside of the U.S., in roughly 30 countries, it also provides smart metering hardware that cuts out the manual step of collecting utility use data and automates it.
With the federal government investing heavily in the clean energy transition, SparkMeter co-founder and CEO Dan Schnitzer said it is crucial that U.S. utility providers gain greater insights into the efficiency of their grids as electricity loads evolve.
Electric vehicle chargers and the increase in rooftop solar are “fundamentally changing the load curve” for utilities, Schnitzer said. But, he added, many utilities “aren’t necessarily able to look at how these changing loads are affecting their assets” and making changes that would improve efficiency.
Separately, it’s also focused on working with small- and mid-sized utilities in East Africa and Southeast Asia, he said. It helped issue the first smart metering project in Somalia this year, according to Schnitzer, and is also piloting one of the first smart-metering projects in the Philippines now. The Honeywell investment will help the company scale both those initiatives.
Over 30 employees work at SparkMeter today, Schnitzer said, up from 25 in 2020. About half of those employees are based in its Nairobi, Kenya, office. Its D.C. office includes a lab for hardware testing and Schnitzer said the company regularly convenes there and plans to maintain that physical space.
More employees will join the team over the next year, Schnitzer said, declining to share how many. Hiring will focus within its product and engineering teams. Schnitzer declined to share revenue for the 10-year-old company and whether it’s profitable.
Last year, Bill Gates’ $1 billion Breakthrough Energy Ventures was one of a handful of venture capital firms that took part in a $10 million investment into SparkMeter. That followed a $12 million Series A raise in 2020. The company has raised $31 million to date.
