Bill Gates-backed cleantech startup Varentec raises $5 million to provide smarter power delivery to customers

Varentec, a cleantech startup backed by Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures, has secured $5 million in growth funding to accelerate new commercial deployments of its grid edge control technology. The round was led by WindSail Capital Group, a Boston-based investment firm focused on energy innovation and sustainability.

Founded in 2002 by Andrew Dillon, Deepak Divan, and Mehrdad Hamadani, the San Jose, California-based Varentec develops advanced power electronic-based systems for electric grid and industrial applications. Funded by Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures, Varentec is also the recipient of support from the Department of Energy. Smart power delivery means thinking out of the box, taking new approaches, and breaking old barriers. High performance at a lower cost, more compact and greater versatility – in solution design, Varentec does not believe that innovation must carry a large cost increase.

“With the strength and long-term commitment of WindSail Capital, we will accelerate adoption of our proven Grid Edge Control solution, which went live at scale with two leading utilities this year,” declared Guillaume Dufossé, Chairman and CEO of Varentec. “Together with our customers, we will establish distributed intelligence as mainstream through utility-owned, decentralized control solutions.”

“Varentec stood out for their relentless focus on their customers, which include major investor-owned electric utilities. We are pleased to invest our support as the industry recognizes Varentec’s Grid Edge Control solution as a key building block in grid modernization,” commented WindSail Capital’s Managing Director, Michael Rand. “WindSail firmly believes in how Varentec empowers utilities to unlock untapped energy savings, reduce peak demand, and integrate distributed energy resources.”

Varentec™ brings intelligence and dynamic control to the edge of the grid through its Edge of Network Grid Optimization (ENGO®) hardware and Grid Edge Management System (GEMS®) software. This unique Grid Edge Control solution augments standard grid modernization systems, enhances energy/demand savings, and boosts DER hosting capacity. Originally funded by Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures and 3M, Varentec is dedicated to delivering distributed intelligence through utility-owned, ubiquitous, and cybersecure hardware + software grid control solutions.