Gridraven, a participant in the ESA BIC accelerator, raises €4 million from investors and enters the US market

Gridraven, whose AI-driven Dynamic Line Rating technology addresses grid bottlenecks and unlocks up to 30% more grid capacity annually, proudly announces its official expansion into the United States with the registration of Gridraven Inc. This strategic move underscores the company’s commitment to scaling operations and serving a growing international clientele.

As part of this expansion, Gridraven’s CEO, Georg Rute, is preparing to relocate to Austin, Texas, to spearhead the company’s US operations in one of the world’s most dynamic energy markets.

”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.

To fuel its international expansion, Gridraven has raised €4 million in funding from leading European venture capital firms, including 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.

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.”

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.”

Gridraven’s system optimizes 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. The solution can be viewed on claw.gridraven.com.

Overview of results

Gridraven has locked in its first successful 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.

Gridraven’s solution demonstrated significant success:

• 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.

About Gridraven

Founded to address critical bottlenecks in power grids, Gridraven is a fast-growing tech company focused on delivering intelligent AI solutions that maximize grid capacity. With its newly established presence in the US, and a strong team of experts driving energy innovation, Gridraven is poised to lead the energy industry into a more efficient future.

Gridraven is participating in the European Space Agency’s Estonian Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC), where Tehnopol is one of the partners. The incubator aims to help Estonian startups enter international markets by providing €60,000 in seed funding along with sector-specific mentoring for product or service development.

If you have an innovative idea for using space technologies or are developing applications for new products and services in non-space environments, you are welcome to apply to the incubator. Learn more and submit your application here!