Sydney-based climate tech Neara has raised $45 million in a Series C funding round, led by global investor EQT, to take advantage of business growth in offshore markets that are pursuing increased energy resilience and facing infrastructure modernisation challenges.
Neara, which was founded in 20http://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/19 by Jack Curtis, Dan Danilatos and Karamvir Singh, is said to have created the first AI-powered predictive modelling software platform for critical infrastructure with the business rapidly scaling in North America and Europe to accelerate the clean energy transition.
The Series C round was led by EQT, a Sweden-based investor with about $350 billion in assets under management, and supported by Partners Group, Square Peg Capital, Prosus Ventures and Scott Farquhar’s Skip Capital. The latter two are existing investors in Neara, while Square Peg is one of the company’s earliest investors.
Neara’s 3D digital modelling technology enables utilities to adopt a more proactive approach to network optimisation through simulations surfacing safety and reliability risks and identifying the most effective remediation actions.
Through Neara, the company’s utility partners perform in just hours and days critical analysis that would otherwise take months or years, allowing them to make rapid and informed decisions on issues such as load growth planning and emergency scenario response strategies.
Since launching in 20http://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/19, Neara’s technology has modelled more than http://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/12 million infrastructure assets covering more than 2.4 million kilometres across four continents.
After working with network utilities such as Essential Energy, Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, Powercor and SA Power Networks to help them navigate the complexities of Australia’s clean energy transition, Neara has expanded its global utility-partner network to include CenterPoint Energy and Southern California Edison in the US.
The company reveals that its European team has grown fourfold over the past year to include customers such as ESB Networks in Ireland, Scottish Power in the UK and Hedno in Greece.
“We are asking the grid to do more in the next http://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/10 years than we have in the last 50,” says Jack Curtis, Neara’s chief commercial officer.
“Neara helps strengthen critical infrastructure to keep global communities safe, connected and economically viable despite intensifying severe weather, age and overuse.
“Reliable, affordable, clean energy depends on resilient high-functioning infrastructure, which demands the laser-focused, fast decision-making we’re empowering for utilities.”
Neara is leveraging the growing importance placed on technology to inform data-driven decision-making, with the company’s platform said to help global utilities identify and address potential outage risks nine times faster than conventional means, while also restoring power three times faster and bringing new infrastructure online 85 per cent faster.
“This investment marks EQT’s first venture growth investment in an Australia-headquartered company, highlighting our ambition to support world-class platforms from early growth partnerships through to large-cap buyouts,” says Frank Heckes, a partner on the EQT Private Equity advisory team and co-head of EQT Private Capital Australia and New Zealand.
“We are excited to further advance Neara’s growth and impact by leveraging our global network and expertise across energy transition, infrastructure augmentation and best-in-class software development.”
The new investors have identified the central role Neara’s technology is playing in the global energy transition through its ability to significantly simplify the complex challenges of transmission design and construction hurdles.
Neara’s simulation functionality also empowers utilities to optimise existing infrastructure, accelerating the integration of renewable energy sources by sourcing untapped network capacity.
The company plans to expand its modelling and simulation capabilities to address new critical infrastructure sectors including telecommunications and public transportation, with Neara already supporting broadband infrastructure projects in the US to help connect underserved communities.
“In many cases, infrastructure is lagging behind rapidly changing societal needs, including across the energy grid, transportation and digital infrastructure,” says Cyrus Driver, managing director at Partners Group, a Switzerland-based private equity firm with about $227 billion in assets under management.
“As a result, it’s never been more important that every dollar invested in infrastructure demonstrably improves performance.
“Neara’s industry-leading technology is essential for every asset owner to run high-functioning and resilient infrastructure. We have deep thematic conviction in Neara’s offering and we are already working with management on multiple opportunities to deploy its solutions within Partners Group’s global network.”
