AFRICA – Beacon Power Services (BPS), an energy technology firm that delivers data and grid management solutions to assist Africa’s power sector distribute electricity more efficiently, has announced the closing of a US$2.7 million seed round.

Seedstars Africa Ventures led the company’s seed round, which included Persistent Energy, Kepple Africa Ventures, Factor[e], and Oridun Capital Management.

The new money will allow BPS to improve its present products (add new features and implement automation) and expand into other markets outside of Nigeria and Ghana, where it now operates.

“Africa is home to the fastest growing cities in the world, but when most people think of energy access in Africa, they think of the rural areas with little or no access to electricity at all. However, it is impossible for Africa to develop without significantly improving electricity access and reliability across its major cities,” said CEO Adisa in a statement.

“When we realized that solutions designed for mature markets fail to address the unique infrastructure challenges Africa faces, we developed a tailored solution for power companies on the continent to improve daily grid supply of electricity.”

Bimbola Adisa established BPS in 2014 in response to insufficient electricity supply from power distribution providers.

The utility company established in the United States and Nigeria offers energy management software and analytics to utilities.

Adora, its AI-enabled grid management technology, solves one of two core difficulties that African power distribution firms face.

“As a society, we have recognized climate change as one of the biggest threats to our generation, and it is critical we use smart capital to support entrepreneurs across Africa who are creating innovative and localized solutions to tackle this challenge,” Maxime Bouan, managing partner at Seedstars Africa Ventures, said, about the investment.

The software provides electric utilities with real-time visibility into network performance and connects to every utility asset and customer node on the grid, allowing energy providers to anticipate outages and identify network losses, respond to them quickly, and distribute electricity more efficiently.

“The result is that utilities can operate more efficiently, recover more revenue, and by reducing outages, customers get increased supply of electricity (more hours supplied daily), so everyone wins,” said BFS in a statement.

The other issue is one of data, which is addressed through the company’s proprietary platform known as the Customer and Asset Information Management system (CAIMs).

African utilities struggle to keep an accurate database of its customers, assets, and grid topology (the relationship between assets and customers).

The CAIMs addresses this by taking into account the particular conditions under which Africa’s utilities operate, such as weak address systems, and assisting them in digitising their data, which acts as a foundation for network enhancements.

According to Adisa, BPS has expanded from a single utility in Nigeria to four utilities in two countries, including Ghana, with over 8 million consumers (residential and businesses).

BPS’s business philosophy comprises engaging with its clients as long-term partners rather than merely selling items.

As a result, the company can delay the majority of the upfront cost of installing its technology in exchange for service-based payments proportionate to the value it provides.

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