(Bloomberg) — Stem Inc., a provider of energy-storage
technology, added almost $12 million from the venture capital
arms of Total SA and Exelon Corp. to a funding round that closed
at $27 million.
Stem now has raised more than $40 million to expand in the
U.S. and abroad, Chief Executive Officer John Carrington said
today in a telephone interview. A November agreement to provide
Edison International’s Southern California Edison utility with
85 megawatts of capacity may become a blueprint for future deals
in other U.S. states.
“The utility component, the grid-services piece of this,
is so significant because we’re helping them solve a problem
related to other renewables,” Carrington said. “Solar has
caused big problems on the grid. Storage helps resolve that.”
The company initially raised $15 million in Series B
financing in December 2013 from investors including General
Electric Co. and Iberdrola SA, which joined Angeleno Group LLC,
a participant in Stem’s $14.2 million Series A round in 2011.
Millbrae, California-based Stem makes batteries that store
power from the grid during non-peak hours for use during periods
of high demand and software that manages those systems. Most
customers, mainly in California, New York and Hawaii, lease the
technology, Carrington said.
“What we really focused on more in 2014 was driving down
our hardware costs and executing commercially and focusing on
these utility programs,” Carrington said. “As we look forward
to 2015, global expansion will play a bigger role.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Jim Efstathiou Jr., Will Wade