Gridcog raises £7m led by ABB with Axpo
This article covers Gridcog, a SaaS startup that builds modelling software for energy projects, which has raised £7m in a series A funding round. The funding will be used to expand its multi-asset simulation tools into more markets, supporting developers, utilities and investors to model storage, flexible load and hybrid assets for project screening and financing.
Gridcog, a SaaS startup that builds modelling software for energy projects, has raised £7 million in a series A funding round. The capital will be used as the company pushes its multi-asset simulation tools into more markets at a moment when accurate modelling of storage, flexible load and hybrid assets is becoming central to project investment decisions.
Why it matters
As grids take on large shares of renewables, the industry is shifting from adding capacity to managing system flexibility. Developers, utilities and energy majors must model storage, flexible demand, grid constraints and market participation together to judge whether a project is bankable and where it makes sense to deploy capital.
Gridcog says its platform has modelled more than 16,000 projects across more than 40 countries and supported hundreds of billions of dollars of investment. Its user list includes Octopus Energy Generation, Shell, Greenvolt, NextEnergy Capital, European Energy, Vestas and PwC, indicating adoption across developers, asset managers and advisors rather than a single niche.
Inside the product
Gridcog provides a single platform for multi-market, multi-asset simulation across the full project lifecycle. Features described in the announcement include modelling of generation, storage, flexible load, grid constraints, network tariffs and market participation, and tools for exploring co-location, hybridisation and ancillary services strategies.
The company pitches a speed advantage: what might take weeks in spreadsheets can be produced in hours within the platform, supporting earlier-stage screening and more consistent, auditable outputs for investors and lenders.
Who are the investors?
The series A is backed by a mix of industrial and energy-sector investors. ABB led the round, with participation from Axpo, DNV Ventures and Verbund X Ventures. Existing shareholders AlbionVC and Clean Energy Finance Corporation also continued their support.
The investor mix spans electrification hardware and services, large-scale generation and trading, and advisory/data providers — the types of organisations that both deploy and underwrite complex energy projects. The announcement frames the syndicate as strategic: these partners run projects that depend on rigorous, transparent modelling.
In the announcement, Stuart Thompson, President, Electrification Service division at ABB, said:
The energy transition increasingly depends on projects that combine renewables, storage and flexible loads, making accurate modelling more important than ever. Together, ABB and Gridcog will help customers navigate this complexity, enabling more confident project decisions with greater visibility of financial returns, carbon outcomes and long-term value.
In the announcement, Kaare Helle, Investor at DNV Ventures, said:
Gridcog turns weeks of spreadsheet modeling into hours of fast, transparent analysis, a natural complement to DNV's data and advisory expertise. Accelerating energy transition projects is essential to meeting global decarbonisation targets, and by bringing our trusted data into Gridcog's platform, we can help developers make faster, more bankable decisions far earlier in a project's life. We're excited to invest with ABB, Axpo and VERBUND, and to collaborate with these notable industrials, looking forward to supporting the Gridcog team in scaling across Europe and beyond.
If you're researching potential backers in this space:
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Founder perspective
Gridcog was co-founded in Australia by Fabian Le Gay Brereton and Pete Tickler; Le Gay Brereton is CEO and Tickler is CPO. The founders frame the funding as validation of global demand from customers who have "outgrown" spreadsheets and bespoke processes.
In the announcement, Fabian Le Gay Brereton, Co-founder & CEO at Gridcog, said:
The demand we're seeing is global, from developers, utilities and energy majors who have outgrown the tools and processes that they started with and need something that works and is trusted across all their projects and markets. The backing of our new investors validates the scale of the problem that we are solving, and the role Gridcog can play, as flexibility becomes central to the energy transition.
In the announcement, Pete Tickler, Co-founder & CPO at Gridcog, said:
The energy transition shifts from simply adding more renewables to making renewables-heavy energy systems work, developers and operators need more storage, more flexible load, smarter grid connections and more sophisticated project design. Gridcog's multi-market and multi-asset simulation software addresses this by giving energy professionals a single platform to model generation, storage, flexible load, grid constraints, network tariffs and market participation across the full project lifecycle.
The bigger picture
The Series A underlines a broader trend: as renewables dominate new capacity globally, the next phase of the energy transition is about flexibility and system integration. Rigorous, auditable modelling is increasingly a procurement and financing requirement rather than optional analytics.
For the UK and Europe, the deal signals continued appetite from industrials and energy players to invest in software that reduces project risk and accelerates deployment. With offices in London, Berlin, Madrid, Perth and Melbourne and a customer base spanning developers, utilities and advisers, Gridcog looks set to use this round to deepen its presence across European markets where grid constraints and tariff complexity make strong modelling tools commercially valuable.
They've invested in Gridcog
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