Energy management startup Bidgely raises $16.6M

Bidgely Inc, a California-based energy analytics firm that has its engineering unit in Bangalore, has raised $16.6 million (Rs 108 crore) in a Series B funding round to expand its product offerings and boost presence in Europe.

The round was led by Constellation Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Chicago-based energy generator Exelon Corp. European utility companies E.ON and RWE and existing investor Khosla Ventures also put in money, Bidgely said in a statement.

Khosla Ventures had invested $5 million in Bidgely in 2013 and $3 million in seed funding two years before.

Bidgely, which means electricity in Hindi, provides energy management solutions to households. The software-as-a-service provider was started in 2011 by IIT Delhi graduate Abhay Gupta and IIT Bombay's Vivek Garud. More than half its employees are located in Bangalore.

"Majority of the product and software development happens in India," said Navin Doshi, vice president and head of India engineering at Bidgely. The company is expanding its India team, he added.

Bidgely said the investment by E.ON and RWE will help it access 65 million new households worldwide. The company claims its products have been installed in 3 million households across eight countries including the US, Canada, the UK and Germany. It is also looking to enter the Indian market.

Michael Smith, head of Constellation Technology, said that Bidgely's user-friendly applications help consumers to take an active role in managing their energy use.

The company offers energy management solutions with the help of three products – HomeBeat Web and Mobile, HomeBeat Energy Monitor and HomeBeat Agent. The products work on energy disaggregation technology that allows users to track consumption right down to an individual appliance at any given time.

The energy monitor is an energy tracking device fitted with the utility meter. It syncs with the web and mobile platform to provide real-time energy consumption data to customers. The cloud-based app HomeBeat Agent acts as a customer support interface that helps utilities to resolve billing disputes.