National Grid Partners announces new $17m investments to advance net zero and climate tech innovation

National Grid Partners (NGP), the corporate venture capital and innovation arm of National Grid, announced three new investments advancing net zero and climate tech innovation totaling $17 million. The new deals bring NGP to key milestones of 50 investments, surpassing $450 million since the organization's launch in 2018. Together, these new portfolio companies will help NGP bring more clean electricity online, make the grid more dynamic and accelerate decarbonization at scale.

NGP's 50 total investments include five unicorn companies valued at over $1 billion and encompass a wide range of sectors, from AI-powered software and hardware solutions to EV charging systems and clean hydrogen technology. Notable recent funding announcements include Exodigo, an AI-powered underground mapping company that recently closed a $105 million Series A; and AiDash, which recently raised $50 million to make critical infrastructure more climate resistant.

The latest deals align with NGP's recently announced four pillars of investing to help solve the most pressing challenges in the clean energy transition: Future Electric Networks, Customer First, Efficiency Through Innovation and Decarbonizing Gas. The three new portfolio companies are:

• Captura (Pasadena, CA): Large-scale direct ocean carbon capture technology, vital for decarbonization.
• Luminance (London, UK): Legal AI systems that streamline negotiation and analysis of contracts and other legal documents that are critical to swiftly developing clean energy and smart grid assets.
• Transcend (Princeton, NJ): A generative design SaaS platform that fully automates the preliminary engineering of innovative and sustainable critical infrastructure (i.e., water & wastewater assets, electrical substations, and more).

In the last year, NGP also invested in 15 follow-on rounds totaling $26 million, reflecting the firm's commitment to supporting portfolio companies for the long-term despite a challenging year for fundraising from venture capital.

Steve Smith, President, NGP: "NGP goes beyond investment to help innovators navigate the complicated, highly regulated world of utilities to decarbonize our society at the scale and speed we need. Climate change is the challenge of our generation, and these milestones mark notable progress advancing the innovators who can help National Grid (and other utilities through our NextGrid Alliance) meet critical environmental and financial goals. In an era when we're seeing some legacy industries back away from climate goals, NGP is hitting a new gear helping entrepreneurs to scale solutions across the utility industry. Our latest investments reflect our commitment to investing in innovation everywhere - whether pulling carbon from the high seas or helping National Grid harness AI to drive efficiency. The savings we can realize from new technologies are essential to meet this huge challenge while ensuring the energy transition is fair and affordable for customers."

Eleanor Lightbody, CEO, Luminance: "National Grid Partners invests in pioneering technologies that solve today's challenges. In a world of increasing regulatory complexity, NGP's unrivaled knowledge and experience operating in regulated environments is crucial to a portfolio company's continued success."

In addition to financial and strategic support for its portfolio companies, the organization also operates an innovation arm that works with non-portfolio startups and spins up additional climate-tech projects from the whiteboard to deployment. This June, NGP and National Grid will host their first-ever Innovation Day in London, convening leaders from the energy, utility and regulatory sectors along with up-and-coming leaders to explore climate solutions to fast-track the energy transition.

www.ngpartners.com