Keyframe recently co-led a $20.5M Series A round in David Energy. David Energy is a software-enabled retail electricity provider that analyzes and controls customer demand in real-time to help reduce customer electricity costs and need for carbon-intensive peaker plants. Below is a re-print of the press release on the investment from Business Wire’s website, which can be found here.
David Energy Secures $20.5 Million Series A Financing to Scale Its Bundled Offering
BROOKLYN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--David Energy, a software-enabled retail electricity provider, today announced the closing of a $20.5 million Series A round of funding, co-led by Keyframe Capital and Union Square Ventures’ designated climate fund. Keyframe Capital’s Ben Birnbaum will join the board and USV’s Rebecca Kaden will join as an observer. Additional investors in the round included existing seed investors Equal Ventures, Box Group, and MCJ Collective, alongside new investors Toba Capital, Turntide, James Dice, and others.
“When we decided to raise a Series A, our goal was to bring together both technology and energy experts,” said James McGinniss, Co-Founder and CEO of David Energy. “That’s exactly what Keyframe and USV bring to the table. They are incredible partners who deeply believe in our vision and will help us scale an organization that's word-class at building software and transacting in electricity markets alike.”
David Energy’s technology analyzes and controls customer demand in real-time by integrating with customers’ energy devices (e.g. smart thermostats, EV chargers, backup generators, battery, and solar systems). Leveraging these distributed energy resources directly into electricity markets, David Energy buys and delivers power to customers more efficiently than incumbent providers. Their software-driven approach introduces transparency and modernity into a traditionally opaque, commoditized industry, and defies legacy approaches by aligning its incentives with its customers through sharing in the savings the platform generates.
“We will deploy this capital to rapidly scale-up our SMB offering in New York, expand our service offering into Texas, as well as launch our beta residential offering across both of those markets,” James added. “We are excited about the initial success of our SMB launch in New York and believe there’s a massive opportunity to bring our unique bundle of software and energy supply to these underserved customer segments.”
David Energy’s integrations with customer devices allow them to reduce costs and avoid power outages while reducing the need for dirty, fossil-fuel powered “peaker plants” on the grid. This capability is increasingly important as energy prices rise, volatility in energy markets grows, and distributed energy resources proliferate as the grid decentralizes. David Energy is well-positioned to capitalize on these shifts in the macro environment while helping customers overcome these challenges.
“I’ve been around the energy and building automation spaces for long enough now to have seen how rare it is to bring to market a novel offer that rapidly scales in both its ability to deliver customer value and in its ability to profitably monetize. This near unicorn of an offer seamlessly synthesizes value across what are today wholly disparate point solutions, and customers win. Bundling unlocks the ability to provide a superior service with very difficult to replicate + competitive advantages and sustainable profits” said Keyframe Capital’s Ben Birnbaum.
“The David Energy team is building a first-of-its-kind platform that allows customers to engage with the grid in ways they have never before. If they are able to prove out the powerful network effects inherent to their business model while delivering customers an excellent digital experience, they have an opportunity to build a timeless, trusted brand in this hugely important but underexplored market” added Rebecca Kaden of Union Square Ventures.
Since their Seed round in February 2021, David Energy has begun operating as a retail energy provider in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts and has submitted an application to expand into Texas. They successfully launched their software platform for Small and Medium-sized Businesses to market in New York and will use this round of financing to further accelerate customer adoption of that platform while developing a brand-new Residential product for the New York and Texas markets.
About David Energy
David Energy is a software-enabled retail electricity provider that analyzes and controls customer demand in real-time to help customers buy power when it is cheapest while reducing the need for carbon-intensive peaker plants. They introduce transparency, modernity, and sustainability to the traditionally opaque and commoditized energy industry. For more information, please visit: www.davidenergy.com
About Keyframe
Keyframe is an NYC-based cross-asset investment firm. The firm’s generalist, cross-asset mandate allows it to invest across a diverse range of business models and capital structures. Keyframe looks to build long term partnerships with companies, and to leverage its flexibility to help solve their most complex asset and corporate financing requirements. Since 2020, Keyframe has developed strong conviction that technology will unlock operational, energy, and cost efficiency in the built environment, and has constructed a portfolio of investments in the space to capitalize on that opportunity. For more information, visit www.keyframecapital.com.
About USV
Union Square Ventures is a thesis driven venture capital firm based in New York City. A core thesis at USV is the Climate Thesis, focused on investing in companies and projects that provide mitigation for or adaptation to the climate crisis. As one of their three funds, USV manages the Climate Fund, focused on investing in bits and atoms targeting primarily Series A opportunities. For more information, visit https://www.usv.com/.
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