ENGYcell, a Riga-based energy management startup, has secured €450,000 in funding, combining a €250,000 pre-seed investment from Change Ventures with a European Union grant. Founded by the team behind OX Drive, the company provides AI-driven energy storage solutions that help commercial and industrial clients optimize electricity use, lower costs, and participate in grid-balancing markets. The fresh capital will accelerate software development, enhance integration with Nord Pool and transmission system operators (TSOs), and fuel expansion into Poland and key European regions. With a track record of execution, ENGYcell aims to democratize access to grid regulation, offering businesses a seamless way to monetize excess capacity.
ENGYcell develops integrated battery energy storage and management systems for commercial, industrial, and utility-scale applications. Its technology enables businesses to optimize electricity costs, enhance grid stability, and participate in energy trading markets. The company offers both hardware and software solutions, including Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), automated trading algorithms, and a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform. ENGYcell’s software-driven approach allows clients to maximize energy efficiency through applications such as frequency regulation, peak shaving, and EV charging optimization, while also offering flexible deployment options with new or repurposed batteries.
“This funding brings us closer to our goal of democratizing access to electricity grid regulation,” says Egija.
Andris K. Bērziņš, partner at the leading Baltic pre-seed fund Change Ventures, has been familiar with the ENGYcell team since they successfully built and exited OX Drive, their Tesla car-sharing business. He highlights the team’s strong determination and goal-oriented mindset, now applied to their new battery energy storage software venture.
“I know the ENGYcell team from their days building and exiting their Tesla car sharing business, OX Drive. Their relentless execution always impressed me and we can see they are applying that same relentless effort to building their battery energy storage software business. I expect that in some years time every commercial and industrial operation will have a battery on site to both optimize electricity purchases, so we see a huge opportunity and are backing a team with the chops to execute on it,” says Bērziņš.
ENGYcell was founded by the same team behind OX Drive—Egija Gailuma, Kristiāns Karlsons, and Kristaps Vasiļjevs—who were later joined by software developer Eugene Zaremba and systems engineer Aleksis Pauls Lindemanis.
While working on OX Drive, the team came up with the idea of reusing EV batteries for energy storage. They built a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) by using repurposed Tesla batteries—the system allowed them to charge the battery storage container overnight when electricity was cheaper and use the stored energy the next day when prices were higher—reducing their electricity costs by 30%.
Initially, this was a solution for their own company, but after selling OX Drive, the founders saw an opportunity to develop software that would help other businesses cut costs in the same way while also enabling participation in the grid regulation market.
“Until now, grid frequency regulation was accessible only to those with deep industry knowledge. We are democratizing this market: Do you have unused capacity that you’re already paying for? Here’s our storage container and software—place it at your factory and start earning profits,” says Egija Gailuma.
Companies that are using BESS today for self-consumption and grid regulation often rely on multiple software tools—one to control the batteries, another to analyze consumption, a third for market trading, and often even hire traders to manage pricing.
ENGYcell offers a single software solution that integrates all these functions:
“Our software is the core component that handles grid regulation, self-consumption management, and energy trading in one platform,” explains Gailuma.
The company also provides energy storage systems, but software remains its primary focus.
Click to read more funding news.
Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/engycell-raises-e450k/
