Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios
Energy software startup Texture has closed a $7.5 million seed round to build out its products that provide data for energy grids.
Why it matters: Demand for clean electricity is growing and better software and more data will be required to make grids and connected energy devices run more efficiently.
Zoom in: Texture, founded and led by entrepreneur Sanjiv Sanghavi, raised the round from Equal Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Abstract Ventures, Day One Ventures, and angels including Kiran Bhatraju.
- The company sells software that's a middle layer in the grid, connecting data from devices like EV chargers and thermostats and providing data services to customers like virtual power plant operators.
- Sanghavi, who formerly founded ClassPass, says about a dozen companies are early customers of the product and likens the software to the "Plaid of the banking sector."
The big picture: The demand for clean electricity is expected to grow sharply in the U.S. due to the combination of electrification (from vehicles and industrial processes), the rise of new data centers and new factories coming online.
- Utilities will need more tools, like virtual power plants, to use the grid capacity they have more efficiently.
The bottom line: Any new software players like Texture will have to prove they're a need-to-have tool to help navigate the new grid challenges.
