Energy startup Boldr raises £2.38m backed by Ada Ventures and Viva Holdings
This article covers a seed round on 30 September 2025 for Boldr, an energy tech company turning homes into residential power plants to support a grid under increasing pressure, founded by Madi Ablyazov. It raised £2.38m in the round, led by Unconventional Ventures with participation from Viva Holdings.
What does Boldr do?
Boldr provides smart hardware and software that integrate with residential heating and cooling systems and other home energy devices. To shift household energy use away from peak times and supply flexible capacity back to the grid.
Why is Boldr useful?
Problem
People face an electricity grid under growing strain from rising demand and mismatched renewable generation. This causes peak shortages and risks rising outages without faster, flexible capacity solutions.
Solution
Boldr explains that it turns ordinary homes into distributed power plants using smart HVAC hardware and software. This lets homeowners shift demand away from peaks, save on bills, and supply capacity back to the grid.
How much did Boldr raise?
Boldr raised an oversubscribed £2.4m ($3.2m) seed round from investors including Ada Ventures and Viva Holdings. This makes it the 61st largest funding round in September 2025 (78 recorded). By size, the round comes in 318th for 2025 (485 recorded) in the Startupmag database, as of 30 September 2025.
For details on how Startupmag compiles its rankings, view our Methodology.
Who invested in Boldr?
Key investors in the round included the following organisations.
- Unconventional Ventures: A venture fund that invests in early-stage climate and energy technology companies.
- Ada Ventures: A UK early-stage venture capital firm that invests across technology sectors, including companies addressing energy and infrastructure challenges.
- Inclimo Climate Tech Fund: A fund focused on climate tech, backing companies developing technologies for decarbonisation and resilience.
- Prosegur: A multinational security and logistics group that makes strategic investments in technology solutions relevant to its operations.
- Techstars: A global accelerator that provides mentorship-driven seed programmes and seed investment to early-stage startups.
- S20 Fund: An investment fund that backs early-stage technology companies.
- Viva Holdings: Owner of an HVAC contractor brand and a Boldr customer; the company also makes strategic investments in HVAC-related technology.
In the funding announcement, Greg Mericle from Viva Holdings said:
As someone who's spent a lifetime in HVAC, I immediately recognized how rare Boldr's approach is. They're not just making the grid smarter - they're making contractors more competitive and homeowners better off.
The investor added they chose to become both a customer and an investor.
In the funding announcement, Matt Penneycard from Ada Ventures said:
Power grids around the world are under pressure and so Boldr is building a critical solution to ease the strain. By reimagining everyday residential energy systems, they are turning homes into assets that deliver both energy stability and savings.
The investor added the team combines hardware and software expertise and that Ada Ventures has backed Boldr again to support solutions for the energy transition.
If you're researching potential backers in this space:
- Explore our list of energy venture capital firms in the UK
- Browse our directory of energy angel investors in the UK
Who founded Boldr?
Madi Ablyazov is the founder of Boldr.
In the funding announcement, Madi Ablyazov explained:
At Boldr, we see every home as a potential power plant, By tapping into everyday energy devices, starting with HVAC, we can provide peak capacity to the grid while helping families lower bills and optimize usage.
The company continued that the funding will support its expansion across the U.S. HVAC market and beyond.
Where is Boldr based?
Boldr is based in London, UK.
What sector is Boldr in?
Boldr operates in the energy sector. This sector covers producing, storing and supplying power for homes, businesses and the grid. In simple terms, it means making and moving electricity people use every day.
Key trends and challenges in Energy:
Electrification and rising peak demand
Electrification of transport and heating is pushing electricity demand higher, especially at peak times.
The US Department of Energy warns outages could double by 2030 without new solutions.
Mismatch between renewable supply and demand timing
Wind and solar generate a lot of energy when demand can be low.
That creates a need for flexible capacity like batteries, storage, or demand shifting.
Industry estimates suggest nearly 100 gigawatts of flexible capacity is needed within five years.
Scaling residential flexibility and grid integration
Homes with solar, batteries and smart appliances can shift or supply power back to the grid.
A typical home battery around 10 kWh can cover a few hours of household use.
For a deeper look at innovation in this space, see the energy startups in the UK.
They've invested in Boldr
Get to know these energy investors
| Investor | Sector | Stage | Activity | Team | Connect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Unconventional Ventures | 4 investments investments | 3 contacts contacts | |||
 Ada Ventures | 38 investments investments | 2 contacts contacts | |||
 Inclimo Climate Tech Fund | 1 investment investment | more info | |||
 Prosegur | 1 investment investment | more info | |||
 Techstars | 6 investments investments | more info | |||
 S20 Fund | 1 investment investment | more info | |||
 Viva Holdings | 1 investment investment | more info |
Click here for a full list of 7,526+ startup investors in the UK