Piclo raises £8.3 million to accelerate decarbonisation of grid internationally
Piclo, the world’s leading flexibility services marketplace, has closed its Series B funding round and raised £8.3 million to further strengthen its market leading position in the UK and Europe, as well as grow its international presence in the US, and Asia-Pacific. The funds will also support the rapidly growing team and further investment in product development.
Piclo’s series B funding round was co-led by Future Energy Ventures (FEV) and Clean Growth Fund (CGF), followed by existing investor Green Angel Syndicate and new investors Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions (Toshiba ESS), Sustainable Future Ventures (SFV) and Japan Energy Fund (JEF).
Piclo Flex is already one of the world’s largest flexibility marketplaces – with over 55,000 assets registered representing over 16GW of flexibility and has facilitated 1.1GW of flexibility capacity worth over £57 million[1]. Backed by its existing and new investors, Piclo is aiming to establish partnerships in new markets in Europe, the US and Asia-Pacific.
Founded in 2013 by James Johnston, Andy Kilner and Alice Tyler, Piclo’s mission is to decarbonise the grid. Piclo Flex, its end-to-end marketplace, enables system operators (SOs) to procure, dispatch and settle local flexibility services from flexibility service providers (FSPs) like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, to balance the grid during times of constraint, helping to make energy networks smarter, flexible and more sustainable.
James Johnston, CEO at Piclo, said:
“We are delighted that our investors have chosen to support Piclo and enable our vision of a decarbonised grid by 2050. We believe that flexibility solutions through our marketplace have a critical role to play in the global journey to net zero and will help deliver increased energy security at lower cost, building on the great progress we’ve already made in the UK. It is an exciting time to be part of a UK cleantech ecosystem that will deliver the solutions we need to achieve net zero. Whilst we had minimal exposure to SVB, we applaud the quick action of the US and UK authorities which has reassured the business community.”
Jan Lozek, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Future Energy Ventures, said:
“We are thrilled to invest in this fast-growing company which has a crucial role to play in the decarbonisation of the energy system and in the transition to a net zero future. Given volatile supply and demand patterns and location mismatches between renewable generation sources and major energy consumption centres, flexibility is key to accelerating the energy transition and balancing the energy system. We believe Piclo’s digital marketplace platform is central to that and estimate the company’s long-term cumulative impact potential by 2050 could reach 1.0 GtCO2e, which is c.a. 2.5% of the total global GHG emissions in 2021.”
Beverley Gower-Jones, Managing Partner of Clean Growth Fund, said:
“Piclo was Clean Growth Fund’s first investment in December 2020, and since then the team has gone from strength to strength, growing its business in the UK and the Continent and now working alongside National Grid to deliver a new flexibility marketplace in New York State. Given its success to date and the pressure on network operators to decarbonise, we are delighted to invest again in Piclo and support the company’s next phase of growth.”
Piclo has currently rolled out its flexibility procurement platform, Piclo Flex, in six global markets: in the UK, Distribution System Operators (UK Power Networks, SP Energy Networks, Electricity North West); and the Transmission System Operator (NG ESO); in Ireland (ESBN); in Italy (E-Distribuzione); in Portugal ( E-REDES); in Lithuania ( Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB (ESO)); and in the United States in New York State (National Grid).
