Gridcog raises $12.5m Series A for energy-modelling software

Australian Gridcog has raised $12.5 million in a Series A round led by ABB Electrification Ventures, giving the energy-modelling company capital to expand its platform and team. DNV Ventures said it also joined the round with Axpo Ventures and Verbund Ventures, and described the same financing as £7 million in its announcement this week.

The raise is modest next to the money flowing into wind farms, batteries and grid upgrades. Gridcog is chasing the earlier software layer: models that test how generation, storage and flexible demand might behave under different market and network settings before a project reaches an investment committee.

Chief executive Fabian Le Gay Brereton said the funding would support product development and hiring. The pitch is aimed at an energy sector that still leans on spreadsheets, consultants and slow scenario work when projects move from concept to procurement or final investment decisions. SmartCompany reported the company had previously raised $6.4 million in 2024.

Brereton tied DNV’s participation to buyer confidence.

“DNV is one of the most trusted names in energy, and trust is exactly what Gridcog is built on.”

Fabian Le Gay Brereton, Gridcog CEO

ABB Electrification Ventures brings an industrial investor with a direct interest in how grids and large energy users plan electrification. DNV already works across power, maritime and certification markets. For Gridcog, those names are useful because the buyers it wants are often conservative, capital-heavy organisations that need a reason to rely on a younger software supplier.

Why modelling software is drawing backing

Gridcog’s case rests on the number of moving parts inside modern power systems. Solar farms, wind assets, batteries and flexible loads increasingly have to be assessed together, often across price, network and policy scenarios. If software can narrow the gap between an initial idea and a bankable model, it can save time before money is committed.

Kaare Helle, head of DNV Ventures, described the investment in operational terms.

“Gridcog turns weeks of spreadsheet modeling into hours of fast, transparent analysis.”

Kaare Helle, DNV Ventures

That is a productivity argument, not a broad climate-tech claim. Delays can carry real capital costs in energy development, and a viable battery or solar project can turn on assumptions buried inside the model. The value for customers is not only faster calculations; it is a clearer view of which assumptions deserve scrutiny before contracts are signed.

The company was founded by Brereton and chief product officer Pete Tickler. Gridcog’s public materials position the platform for energy retailers, developers and large power users comparing options before they lock in investment or procurement decisions. That keeps the story closer to enterprise software than to consumer-facing climate products, even though the customers sit inside the energy transition.

For Australian startup readers, the raise points to continued appetite for software infrastructure tied to real-world sectors. Gridcog still has to turn a specialist modelling product into a broader platform, but this round gives it industrial investors whose own customers understand the problem.