OTTAWA, Ontario, February 14, 2023 (Newswire.com) - BluWave-ai announces that it has completed a $9.5M Series A financing round on Dec. 15, 2022. PowerON Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, has made a strategic investment and taken a minority stake along with existing and new private investors led by Capital Angels Network. BluWave-ai has also received a $1.73M grant through the Government of Canada investment through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario)1 which was previously announced in November 2022.
PowerON is a leading provider of turnkey electric vehicle charging solutions for fleets. PowerON is servicing the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)'s Electric Vehicle fleet for the next 20 years. As a result of the PowerON investment, James Brewer (VP, New Growth & Business Development at OPG) has been added to the Board of Directors at BluWave-ai.
The resources from this round will be deployed to build on the company's Grid Optimization solution with the EV Fleet Orchestrator product line for EV Fleet operators, and the EV Everywhere product line for utilities dealing with the onslaught of personal EVs and electricity grid congestion and upgrade challenges. BluWave-ai has already secured lead customers for its EV Fleet orchestrator product with Dubai Taxi, other fleet operators, and PowerON. The EV Everywhere solution's lead customers are Hydro Ottawa and IESO.
"BluWave-ai started its journey in 2017 and was built from the ground up to apply supercomputing and AI to the decarbonization of electricity on the plant. Over the last 5 years, we have won many international awards, completed 16 USPTO filings and deployed our products on three continents with recurring revenues," said Devashish Paul, CEO and founder of BluWave-ai. "We built our grid optimization platform to deal with solar, wind, grid connections, weather, real-time market pricing, grid carbon content and utility-scale battery storage, but now EVs represent the biggest type of variable storage on the grid side, while representing an asset to absorb fluctuating renewables while decarbonizing road miles. Our Series A round is to grow the EV side of our business as it hits prime time during this next growth phase of the company."
"PowerON has been established by OPG to deliver behind-the-meter electrified solutions for fleet operators across North America," said Keegan Tully, Managing Director at PowerON Energy Solutions. "We chose to partner with a Canada-based world leader like BluWave-ai that is poised to transform the industry with AI and real-time automation."
"The addition of a large penetration of EVs in the Ontario grid is a challenge," said Thomas Triplet, BluWave-ai Senior Director of Engineering. "The IESO has collaborated with BluWave-ai on its EV Everywhere program. As part of the IESO project, working with Hydro Ottawa, and using this Series A financing, we've already launched our BluWave-ai EV Flight Test Center."
"We are pleased to see the steady growth and progress of Ottawa-based cleantech leader, BluWave-ai," said Michael Tremblay, President & CEO, Invest Ottawa. "They are paving the way for regions around the world to increase their use of renewable energy sources. We are particularly excited about their work in optimizing EV fleet deployment and smart/micro-grid operations, including a pilot project that they have underway with Hydro Ottawa at Area X.O. One more reason why the world needs Ottawa."
"The future of Canada's transportation industry is green. That is why FedDev Ontario has invested over $1.7 million in BluWave-ai as it creates the tools needed by our businesses to adapt to a new energy-efficient future," said the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. "Investments like these will help our entrepreneurs contribute to Canada's end-to-end electric vehicle supply chain to ensure a seamless transition to electric vehicles."
The use of proceeds from this round is for commercial scale-out, new customer acquisition, growing staff to 60, and expansion in existing markets for grid optimization as well as the EV market. As a result of the financing, the company has in excess of 30 months of runway with cash on hand and contracts to date; this enables product growth to service key customers in the market.
All shares issued in the round and to date are common class A shares. BluWave-ai has commenced the fundraising process for its Series B round for interested Climate Investors or strategic corporate partners for scale-out to build the world's premier renewable energy and electric transport AI company.
The BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator is partially funded by support from FedDev Ontario. For details, click here. To purchase BluWave-ai's EV Fleet Orchestrator™ and EV Everywhere products, please contact info@bluwave-ai.com.
Notes:
1. The grant from Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario previously announced in November 2022 is a repayable interest-free loan.
About BluWave-ai
BluWave-ai is focused on driving the proliferation of renewable energy and electric transportation worldwide. Our solutions apply artificial intelligence (AI) cloud software to optimize the cost, carbon footprint, and reliability of different energy sources, both renewable and non-renewable, in real time. This lets our customers - utilities, fleet operators and electricity system operators - improve their energy-related decision-making in planning and in live systems to decrease costs and carbon footprint. Every day, our employees come to BluWave-ai with the mission to decarbonize the planet by using hardware assets more efficiently with AI software while we build the world's premier renewable energy and transport electrification AI company based in Canada.
Click here to learn more about BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator™.
About PowerON Energy Solutions
PowerON Energy Solutions is the catalyst for organizations to electrify and create a better climate future. We provide turnkey planning, design, installation, operation and energy management for fleets to reduce cost and emissions. We understand that electrification is about more than just chargers and our technical expertise, experience and mastery of electrical systems allow us to deliver maximum ROI for our partners. PowerON is a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, one of the largest power generators in North America with more than 100 years of history building and operating complex electrical infrastructure.
About FedDev Ontario
For 13 years, the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario, has worked to advance and diversify the southern Ontario economy through funding opportunities and business services that support innovation, growth and job creation in Canada's most populous region. The Agency has delivered impressive results, which can be seen in southern Ontario businesses that are creating innovative technologies, improving productivity, growing revenues, creating jobs, and in the economic advancement of communities across the region. Learn more about the impacts the Agency is having in southern Ontario by exploring our pivotal projects, our Southern Ontario Spotlight, and FedDev Ontario's website.
Contact Information:Brandon Paul
Senior Corporate Marketing Manager
brandon.paul@bluwave-ai.com
Original Source: BluWave-ai Secures $9.5M Series A Round Including a Strategic Investment From PowerON Energy Solutions
