It has been just under two years since we formed Uplight, and in that short time, I’ve been awed by the pace at which the energy industry has started to shed carbon. During that same time period, Uplight has made tremendous progress and remained laser focused on helping the industry eliminate emissions. As decarbonization increasingly becomes a top priority for energy providers, we deploy solutions to activate their residential and Business energy users at scale to play a meaningful role in decarbonization. We achieve this by engaging customers, driving adoption of grid edge solutions, and orchestrating supply and demand. Uplight is focused on delivering the critical piece needed to enable a more flexible grid — an operating system through which all of the components, like EVs and smart thermostats, work together seamlessly and with grid operators to create a cleaner grid.
It’s been clear for some time that the investment community sees the value in our vision, and my inbox is awash in inbound inquiries for creating SPACs and additional funding. But Uplight is here for the long term and we were lucky to find investment partners who share our long-term vision. We’re thrilled to announce that Uplight has closed a new investment from a consortium of investors, co-led by Schneider Electric, AES and a group of private equity investors led by Huck Capital that includes Coatue Management and Inclusive Capital Partners. Our former majority investor, Rubicon Technology Partners, will stay on as a minority investor. This group are exactly the right partners we need for this new era at Uplight, and we will benefit from their collective expertise as leaders in sustainability.
When I look to the future, the missing and critical piece to achieving decarbonization and building a more sustainable planet is the software to weave everything together. At home, I have solar panels, a smart thermostat and EVs, but none of these technologies talk to each other to help me meet my own energy goals. What’s worse, none of them communicate or connect to meet the growing and changing needs of the grid.
By 2035, GM plans to produce only EVs. We’re expecting mass growth in heat pumps, smart water heaters and batteries. Smart thermostats and solar panels will continue to become more and more mainstream. The need for an underlying software to connect this technology will grow massively in the short term. What will happen in the next 15 years will be unlike anything we’ve seen in the past 100 years, but for everything to work, we need not only the right policies in place, but also software that brings everything together to better manage the grid edge. After all, it’s the grid edge that we all live our lives.
As I reflect upon our journey to get to this stage, I can’t help but feel that Uplight is the epitome of a 15-year overnight success story. Being mission-driven has been incredibly important as we have worked to reach this point, and without our focus on a healthier planet, the lows of the journey from a startup to high-growth company might have been impossible to overcome. People, planet, and profit remain a major motivator for me, along with proving that an energy focused B-Corp can achieve profitability and value for stakeholders – business as a force for good. Together, we are demonstrating that creating value for the greater good of the world and for shareholders at the same time is very much possible.
On the next leg of the journey, Uplight is building upon the success we’ve had in helping customers engage, activate new solutions and orchestrate their energy usage, and you can expect even more commitment to innovation and execution as we build and activate the connective layer in energy orchestration.
