Aligned Climate Capital Closes $5 Million Lead Investment in UtilityAPI
Investment in Clean Energy Data Platform Represents Seventh Deal in Firm’s Inaugural Venture Fund
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AlignedClimateCapital–Aligned Climate Capital, an investment firm focused on decarbonizing the global economy, announced today that it has closed a $5mm Series A investment in UtilityAPI, a data service provider for the clean energy economy. This represents the seventh investment in Aligned’s inaugural venture fund, the Aligned Climate Fund, and Aligned will be joining the Company’s Board of Directors.
UtilityAPI provides secure, standardized, and authorized access to utility data. The company was founded with a mission to fight climate change by offering a simple, fast solution for requesting and downloading utility customer bills and interval data, shared only with explicit customer consent, and revocable at any time. This streamlines the sales process for clean energy companies, allowing them to provide clean energy solutions faster, and more cheaply.
“Data access shouldn’t be a roadblock to clean energy deployment,” said Aligned Climate Capital CEO Peter Davidson. “UtilityAPI makes it quick and easy for clean energy companies and utilities to share data, while still protecting consumer privacy.”
The Aligned Climate Fund targets Seed through Series B investments in companies across four target sectors: clean energy, efficient buildings, electric transport, and sustainable land use. Specifically, Aligned focuses on companies that are scaling and enabling the deployment of proven technologies, like solar, electric vehicles, batteries, and more. Launched in March 2021, the Fund held a final close in January 2022 at $42 million of commitments and is now more than 80% committed across seven investments.
“We are out to prove that investors can achieve strong financial returns and help fight climate change at the same time,” continued Davidson. “By backing early-stage companies that use proven clean energy technologies, we believe you can make smart venture investments that minimize technology risk.”
Aligned Climate Fund Portfolio Companies
The Aligned Climate Fund has invested in seven companies to date. Each company is focused exclusively on climate and six of the seven ACF portfolio companies are led by women or people of color.
ChargeNet Stations
Sector: Electric Transport
Stage: Series Seed
ChargeNet develops DC Fast Charging (DCFC) stations for electric vehicles that are co-located with distributed solar and storage. The Company is focused primarily on deploying these solutions at quick-serve restaurants, including a partnership with a Taco Bell franchisee in California.
https://chargenetstations.com/
CleanFiber
Sector: Efficient Buildings
Stage: Series A
CleanFiber manufactures cellulose insulation from recycled waste materials that can be used in both commercial and residential applications at a lower cost and with fewer emissions than fiberglass.
https://www.cleanfiber.com/
pulsESG™
Sector: Multi-sector
Stage: Series Seed
pulsESG™’s enterprise software allows asset managers, financial services firms, and other companies to measure, track, and audit Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics. pulsESG™ provides full integration with internal sources of data and external facing data systems allowing users to automate and audit ESG reporting.
https://pulsesg.com/
Sealed
Sector: Efficient Buildings
Stage: Series B
Sealed designs, manages, and finances home weatherization and electrification projects, making it easy and affordable for people to be more comfortable while using less energy.
https://sealed.com/
Swell Energy
Sector: Clean Energy
Stage: Series A
Swell installs, finances, and operates residential and commercial solar and battery storage systems as part of the Company’s Virtual Power Plant (VPP) network. The Company is a VPP developer and operator that has secured multiple utility contracts to provide grid services that support a carbon-free, distributed renewable energy system.
https://www.swellenergy.com/
SWTCH
Sector: Electric Transport
Stage: Series A
SWTCH provides EV charging solutions in urban multi-tenant settings—multi-family, office, and retail buildings—across North America; 50% of these buildings are low-moderate income multi-family buildings.
https://swtchenergy.com/
UtilityAPI
Sector: Clean Energy
Stage: Series A
UtilityAPI is a data service company that helps clean energy developers and utilities share data. The data is used to develop distributed energy resources, implement incentive programs, and meet regulatory requirements.
https://utilityapi.com/
About Aligned Climate Capital
Aligned Climate Capital LLC is an asset manager investing exclusively in the people, companies, and real assets that are decarbonizing the global economy. Founded in 2019, Aligned is a dynamic and mission-driven firm that believes solving climate change is a unique opportunity to generate strong financial returns, while also achieving meaningful environmental and social impact. The team works at the intersection of finance, technology, and public policy with a particular focus on ESG metrics.
Aligned currently has more than $1.8 billion in assets under management (as of 12/31/21) across three separate investment strategies: Aligned Climate Fund; Aligned Solar Partners, a tax-efficient distributed solar strategy; and Ares Climate Infrastructure Partners, its joint venture with Ares Management’s Infrastructure and Power Group.
Aligned’s senior leadership have been at the forefront of mobilizing private capital to solve climate change for more than a decade. Peter Davidson and Brendan Bell— Aligned’s CEO and COO respectively— met originally when they ran the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) under President Obama. In these roles they managed a $32 billion portfolio of innovative clean energy investments, including the first loan to Tesla and the first investments in utility-scale solar. After leaving government service, they launched Aligned Intermediary with their third partner, Larry Rodman, where they advised 12 institutional investors on investments in renewable energy and other climate solutions.
For more information, please visit www.AlignedClimateCapital.com
Contacts
Suzi Emmerling
202-550-3785
suzi@boundarystonepartners.com