A Yorkshire tech start-up is looking to raise £50 million to take advantage of a growing public appetite for green energy.
Social Energy, based in Huddersfield, harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to store, manage and distribute the energy generated by residential solar panels.
The company claims to save customers 70 per cent a year in electricity bills and says tech business must take the lead in driving change.
Social Energy has tasked investment advisory Evercore to help it raise £50m to finance international expansion and tech development.
Among the companies who have reportedly expressed an interest in the investment opportunity are energy firms, oil giants and telecoms firms, with 25 said to have progressed to the due diligence stage.
“The attraction of our model has not escaped the attention of global energy behemoths which are beginning to assess their position in a post-carbon world,” said CEO Ryan Gill.
“Shell, for example, recently bought Sonnen and Limejump to attempt this in the future.
“But it isn’t purely an issue of investment, the nature of AI is it needs time to learn and that can’t be accelerated. Our AI has been developed by a team of data scientists over a six-year R&D period: this isn’t easy to replicate.”
Social Energy’s AI learns about a home’s energy consumption and stores the energy needed in batteries. It can therefore manage the use of power to avoid paying peak prices.
Social Energy holds the exclusive brand licence for Duracell in home energy storage across key markets.
The firm also has exclusive agreements with suppliers that account for 70 per cent of global battery manufacturing.
Gill added: “Having an environmentally friendly home is moving up on people’s agendas.
“Look at solar panels for example. A million homes in the UK already have them installed. By joining the Social Energy Network, homes and businesses are empowered to take back control of their energy supply.”
The funding round, which will help the firm extend into territories including Australia and thew United States, will close next month.