Tallinn-based Gridraven, whose AI-driven Dynamic Line Rating technology addresses grid bottlenecks and unlocks up to 30% more grid capacity annually, announced a €4 million raise in funding to expand into the US with the registration of Gridraven Inc.
The funding round included participation from VC firms 42CAP (Germany) and Icebreaker.vc (Finland). The funding will be directed toward scaling operations, growing the team, and accelerating the rollout of innovative solutions designed to address the evolving challenges of the global energy sector.
”The US and especially Texas are seeing significant load growth from electrification and data centres. More grid capacity is needed on day-ahead energy markets to power this growth. Our software solution boosts grid capacity with zero additional hardware, helping utilities service this load growth. We’re setting up in Austin, Texas, to be close to our customers,” comments Georg Rute, CEO of Gridraven.
Founded in 2023 to address critical bottlenecks in power grids, Gridraven’s system optimises transmission lines by leveraging machine learning-based weather models, allowing grids to carry more power during favorable conditions. Their technology can unlock more capacity for grid operators today without the need for any new hardware.
Gridraven’s goal is to help increase grid transmission capacity by 30% globally, believing that the lack of grid capacity is a key blocker to economic growth. According to Gridraven, it takes increasingly longer to connect data centers, renewables and industry to the grid, because it takes “a decade to build a new power line.”
Gridraven’s software-only Dynamic Line Ratings reportedly unlock 30% more capacity on average thanks to their extremely detailed AI weather model. According to them, power lines are very sensitive to the weather, with only a 2 m/s wind adding 30% more capacity thanks to the cooling effect.
Alex Meyer, 42CAP: “We are very impressed with Gridraven’s team and technology. Their core innovation of applying AI and machine learning to increase the resolution of weather forecasts is the missing link for unlocking more capacity from the existing grids. We see enormous potential for the solution across the world and believe the team is right for bringing it to market.”
Gridraven provided below their results with Estonian energy provider Elering. The results are based on tests conducted on a 110 kV line, where forecasts were validated against eight measurement points up to 48 hours ahead. The trials occurred in a forested area where current wind forecasts had previously failed to provide reliable results.
- Average Forecast Accuracy: 60% better than existing forecasts.
- Reliability: The 95% confidence interval was maintained 95.1% of the time.
- Capacity Increase: From September to November 2024, Gridraven’s forecasted line capacity was a third higher than the capacity achieved with the previously used approach while ensuring that confidence intervals for constantly changing variables were met.
Aleksi Partanen, Icebreaker.vc adds: “Having supported the founding team from the idea stage since late 2023, we have witnessed their ability to build world-class technology. We will continue to support Gridraven throughout their progress.”
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/02/gridraven-secures-e4-million-to-address-grid-bottlenecks-in-europe-and-the-u-s/
