Utilidata closes $20M Series B round, enters Saudi market

UTILIDATA INC. has closed on a $20 million Series B financing round led by Formation 8 Partners and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the company announced Tuesday. Utilidata Chairman and CEO Scott DePasquale said the two venture firms
UTILIDATA INC. has closed on a $20 million Series B financing round led by Formation 8 Partners and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the company announced Tuesday. Utilidata Chairman and CEO Scott DePasquale said the two venture firms "bring together world-class expertise and access to some of the largest markets in Asia and the Middle East." / COURTESY UTILIDATA

PROVIDENCE – Utilidata Inc. has completed a $20 million Series B round of financing to support the energy conservation and management company’s research and development and to expand its product base in North America, Asia and the Middle East.

San Francisco-based Formation 8 Partners and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures led the Series B round, joining existing investors Braemar Energy Ventures and American Electric Power. Jim Kim, a founding partner of Formation 8, will join Utilidata’s board of directors, the company said.

“Utilidata sits at a unique intersection of IT data analysis and energy,” said Kim in a release. “The company’s ability to access truly unique data about the power grid, while providing significant customer savings through automated voltage and VAR optimization, will help utilities solve some very big challenges related to distributed generation, reliability and security.”

Kim added that Utilidata’s technology could find strong interest in the Asian market, “where the benefits of increased efficiency and intelligent control could reduce the cost of electricity, enabling more sustainable growth.”

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In addition to Asia, Utilidata is also looking to expand its presence in the Middle East through its new partnership with Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the investing arm of the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s largest oil company and a major industrial electricity consumer.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Saudi Arabia is the 13th largest energy consumer in the world, and plans to increase domestic generating capacity from 55 gigawatts to 120 gigawatts by 2020. Utilidata’s voltage management systems could benefit the Saudi economy by optimizing energy consumption, reducing peak demand and improving distribution grid capacity, the company said.

“We are excited to onboard such a deeply strategic and well-known group of investors with strong ties to our industry,” said Scott DePasquale, chairman and CEO of Utilidata. “Both Formation 8 and Saudi Aramco bring together world-class expertise and access to some of the largest markets in Asia and the Middle East. The investment group also forms a nexus of thinking around smart enterprise management and industrial efficiency.”

The Series B financing round closed Monday. Utilidata declined to comment on whether Formation 8 and Saudi Aramco hold a majority share in the company.

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