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EV charging software company WeaveGrid has closed a $28 million strategic round led by Toyota's growth fund to expand its business. 

Why it matters: The world's largest automaker has a growing interest in its EVs interacting with the power grid.

Zoom in: WeaveGrid, based in San Francisco, said Toyota's fund Woven Capital led the round, and existing investors participated, including Activate Capital, Collab Fund, Emerson Collective, and Salesforce Ventures.

"Automakers are increasingly excited about the opportunity from using their vehicles and making them grid-interactive," said WeaveGrid co-founder and CEO Apoorv Bhargava.

Catch up quick: WeaveGrid, founded in 2018 by two Stanford entrepreneurs,  has developed AI that can help utilities better manage EV charging on their networks.

The company works closely with automakers like Toyota and Tesla as partners and to get access to vehicle and charging data. 

WeaveGrid raised a Series B round in 2022 led by Salesforce Ventures and including investors like Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Coatue, and The Westly Group.

The company counts utilities PG&E and Xcel Energy among customers.

How it works: Utilities can use the batteries of EVs as a distributed resource, creating virtual power plants (VPP) that can help a utility manage demand growth and avoid larger infrastructure investments. 

Yes, but: Automakers and utilities have long been conservative when it comes to enabling services between an EV battery and the grid. 

VPPs have grown more slowly than anticipated and have had trouble reaching scale. 

The big picture: The growth in electricity demand due to data centers and manufacturing has led more utilities to embrace VPPs and launch managed charging programs.  

"The beauty of AI load growth is that all options are on the table," said Bhargava.

WeaveGrid raises $28M led by Toyota's growth fund

Investors include Toyota and Salesforce funds

Illustration of an EV charger on top of a pile of money.

EV charging software company WeaveGrid has closed a $28 million strategic round led by Toyota&#x27;s growth fund to expand its business. Why it matters: The world&#x27;s largest automaker has a growing interest in its EVs interacting with the power grid.

WeaveGrid raises $28M led by Toyota's growth fund

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