Product Updates

Podero secures 5.5 million euro to optimize energy use

February 6, 2025
Read Time: 4 min
Sophie Nesterenko

February 2025

We’re excited to share big news. Podero has raised €5.5 million in an oversubscribed seed round. This funding will speed up our platform’s growth. It will help utilities handle market volatility and build stronger customer relationships through energy optimization.

Our mission: solving energy market volatility

Europe’s electricity markets are more turbulent than ever. Utilities face:

New regulations
New market entrants
Rising consumer expectations

Our software tackles these challenges head-on. We help utilities cut energy costs for flexible devices, often by over 25%, according to Tech Funding News.

We focus on optimizing Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). This includes:

Heat pumps
Electric vehicles and chargers
Inverters
Home batteries

By managing these devices with market signals and real-time data, utilities can turn market disruption into a competitive edge.

Strategic investment in our growth

This round was led by Planet A Ventures. Systemiq Capital joined as a co-investor. Our existing investors, Pale Blue Dot and Push Ventures, also participated.

The round was oversubscribed. That’s a clear sign of strong demand for intelligent energy flexibility solutions.

How we’ll use the funding

Build a European sales and customer success team
Expand our marketing efforts
Advance product development
Enhance integrations with energy devices
Optimize algorithms across more electricity markets
Develop features that streamline utility operations

Our Competitive Advantage

The energy sector is changing fast. Utilities must innovate, or they risk losing customers to more agile competitors.

Our Co-founder & CEO, Chris Bernkopf, explained it to Tech Funding News:

“Podero’s model enables utilities to roll out the best electricity contracts. Utilities are allowed to trade on the markets, and they already own the end-user relationship and have massive amounts of funds to deploy.”

He added:

“Our platform gives utilities a competitive edge in electricity pricing. With our device control and trading technology, they can offer lower rates that others can’t match without similar software.”

What our customers say

Tobias Övall, Manager of Digitalization and Transformation, Retail at E.ON Nordics, shared why this matters:

“We are seeing rapidly increasing volatility in electricity markets and new competitors. Utilities must innovate to offer products that help customers save costs and give them control over their energy usage.”

What our investors say

Nick de la Forge, Partner at Planet A, summed up the opportunity:

“Podero is tackling one of the most pressing challenges in the energy transition, helping utilities unlock the full potential of decentralised energy resources while maintaining grid stability. With strong regulatory tailwinds and increasing market volatility, the demand for intelligent flexibility solutions is higher than ever.”

Our technology platform

We stand out because we combine two things: device steering and energy trading.

Device steering: Our platform optimizes how devices run. It uses market signals, spot prices, and household solar (PV) production data.

Energy trading: We provide forecasts and trading recommendations. This lets utilities trade aggregated device power across spot day-ahead, intraday, and balancing energy markets.

Today, our platform works with over 50 manufacturers. This includes major names like Tesla, Viessmann, and Huawei. Utilities can optimize a wide range of customer devices while trading across key electricity markets.