Greentech startup RunPilot raises £140k from the University of Sheffield board
This article covers RunPilot, a greentech startup developed at the University of Sheffield, which has raised £140k in a pre-seed funding round to accelerate modelling and optimisation for long-lead infrastructure projects. The funding will support development of its AI-powered platform to help planners and network operators model and optimise routes for electricity transmission and other critical networks, aiming to shorten planning and consenting timelines.
RunPilot, a greentech startup developed at the University of Sheffield, has raised £140,000 in a pre-seed funding round to accelerate modelling and optimisation for long‑lead infrastructure projects — a capability that could shave years off planning for electricity transmission and other critical networks.
Why it matters
Infrastructure planning for clean energy is often slow, fragmented and costly, which can stall projects needed to meet net‑zero targets. Tools that speed up route modelling and surface environmental, technical and consent risks earlier could reduce redesigns, lower cost uncertainty and help projects progress through consenting and delivery phases faster. That is especially significant given the UK Government’s ambition to cut total build time for electricity transmission infrastructure from 14 years to seven.
Inside the product
RunPilot has built an AI‑powered SaaS platform intended to model and optimise multiple infrastructure routing options while accounting for environmental, technical and societal considerations, including consent risks. The founders say the product combines human insight with automated optimisation to let planners test and refine routes in near real time rather than through slow, manual iterations.
The team has worked with academics, policymakers and industry partners to validate assumptions and use cases. They also engaged The Engine Room, a technical branding specialist, to sharpen the platform’s market positioning and go‑to‑market identity ahead of commercial outreach.
Who are the investors?
RunPilot secured £140,000 after an internal pitch to the University of Sheffield board. The funding is earmarked for further product development, technical hiring and initial commercial growth; the company also plans to appoint a sales director and is exploring workspace options in Sheffield’s Innovation Spine district.
Peter Evans, CEO of Orderly, has joined as a strategic advisor. Orderly is a technology business whose leadership experience is intended to support RunPilot’s commercialisation. Separately, RunPilot was selected for the Joules Accelerator in the United States, a programme that identifies and scales advanced grid technologies; the company was one of only four British firms ever chosen and one of six in this cohort, a signal of external validation rather than direct investment.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Joseph Hammond, co‑founder at RunPilot, said:
Early stage infrastructure planning is currently slow, high-risk, and prone to costly redesigns. But to meet the industry’s net-zero targets, better technology alone is not enough – we need faster delivery too.
RunPilot has the potential to become the ‘second brain’ for infrastructure. It’s been five years in the making and we are very proud of our academic roots. But for a deep tech university spin out like ours to be taken seriously, we needed a clearer, more commercially astute identity.
Our work with The Engine Room transitioned us from a credible research venture to a market-ready technology brand capable of scale – this type of strategic project is a critical pre-requisite for start-ups before funding pitches.
Hammond and co‑founder Dr Thomas Cowley developed the platform from PhD research at the University of Sheffield and say the product is intended to bridge academic modelling with practical, commercial workflows used by network operators and planners.
The bigger picture
The raise is a typical early step for university spinoffs turning technical research into commercial software. It also illustrates wider investor appetite for greentech tools that address bottlenecks in the energy transition rather than only hardware or generation technologies. RunPilot’s selection for an international accelerator and its University‑board backing position it to pursue pilots with network operators and consenting authorities — a pathway that, if successful, would feed into the UK and European push to accelerate grid upgrades and meet net‑zero timelines.
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