LevelTen Energy, a startup that helps corporations make renewable energy purchases, has raised $20.5 million from investors. The Seattle-based company says it plans to use some of the new money to fund product development, make new hires, and expand into Europe.
Prelude Ventures, a cleantech-focused venture firm based in San Francisco, led the Series B funding round, LevelTen says in a news release. Equinor Energy Ventures, Total Ventures, and Constellation Technology Ventures, the investing arm of Exelon (NYSE: [[ticker:EXC]]), were among the other participating investors.
LevelTen seeks to give more businesses access to the power purchase agreements that some well-heeled energy buyers negotiate directly with wind and solar energy developers instead of buying power through an electric utility.
Negotiating such lengthy, high-value contracts is beyond the capabilities of many corporate energy buyers, despite businesses’ growing appetite for the relatively competitive prices energy developers offer—and the buyers’ ability to lock those prices in through multiyear agreements. Part of the idea behind LevelTen is aggregating demand from would-be buyers of inexpensive, clean energy, and contracting directly with renewable energy producers to negotiate power purchases.
Launched in 2016, the company says its customers have bought more than $1 billion worth of renewable energy through the LevelTen Energy platform.
The startup, which raised $6.8 million from investors in 2017, assists corporations with submitting bids and proposals for new renewable energy projects. Its LevelTen Marketplace provides information on “utility-scale” clean energy projects that are currently under development in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
“We think this will become an essential tool for corporate and industrial procurement of renewable energy, and that is a market that is growing rapidly,” Tim Woodward, managing director at Prelude Ventures, says in a prepared statement.
