Kaluza has secured a $100m equity investment from one of Australia’s largest energy suppliers, AGL Energy, in a deal that has pushed up the market valuation of the UK-based energy software platform confirmed to half a billion dollars.
Announced yesterday, the deal will see AGL acquire a 20 per cent stake in Kaluza and expand on a partnership between the two firms that first began in 2021.
Under the deal, AGL plans to rollout Kaluza’s software platform to four million of its customers across Australia as part of a “multi-year licensing agreement and investment” that the energy firm expects to unlock around $46m to $60m in pre-tax cash savings a year from 2029 onwards.
Launched in 2019 by entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick – who is also founded energy supplier OVO – Kaluza’s software platform aims to help energy utilities reduce costs by automating their customer operations and managing the increasing numbers of smart energy devices that are widely regarded as integral to the transition towards zero emission grids. Kaluza currently services more than six million meters via OVO Energy in the UK and has expanded into a host of new markets in recent years.
The company now operates in the UK, Japan, Europe, and the US, with the latest strategic investment from AGL now valuing Kaluza at around $500m. The company hailed the latest deal as “one of the largest energy-tech investment rounds” to date.
Fitzpatrick said the fresh investment was “a major step towards Kaluza’s mission to help power a world where net zero is within everyone’s reach”.
“Australia is ahead of the curve in tackling the intense demands on its energy system – from the most volatile energy prices to the proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) and incorporating solar into the grid,” he said. “The AGL teams have been able to witness first-hand the transformational impact of the Kaluza platform. Today’s announcement confirms that Kaluza is best placed to help global energy companies manage these challenges – at the same time as continually improving customer experiences.”
Damien Nicks, AGL Energy’s managing director and CEO, said the deal represented a “significant milestone in our transformation journey to connect more customers to a sustainable future”.
“Our world-class technology, enabled by Kaluza and alongside other industry partnerships, will allow us to develop a future suite of simplified products that will seamlessly integrate into the lives of our customers and improve their experience,” he said.
“The technology market is changing materially with the emergence of new core utility platforms offering greater flexibility and speed, which makes it imperative to partner with industry leaders, and is why we have chosen Kaluza. The Kaluza platform will enable new product innovation at speed, whilst at the same time materially reducing operating costs for AGL’s customer business in the future.”
You can now sign up to attend the fifth annual Net Zero Festival, which will be hosted by BusinessGreen on October 22-23 at the Business Design Centre in London.