GridPointacquisition strategy continues today with the purchase of ADMMicro, a company that managed energy use for commercial and industrial customers.
At its core, GridPoint is a service and software vendor for utilities -- giving them the tools they need to balance peak power loads, keep track of and parse the flood of energy consumption data being channeled by their smart meters, and supply consumer-facing home energy monitors intended to encourage conservation and energy bill saving.
The company, based in Arlington, Va., says it will integrate ADMMicro's technology to create new opportunities in the commercial and industrial sectors. With $220 million in its pocket, its hard to tell when and where GridPoint will stop buying up the fruits of others' labor to build its portfolio.
It rised its first round of funding shortly after its inception in 2003, bringing in $8 million from Skypoint Capital and BDC Venture Capital. Since then, Advantage Capital Partners, Altira Group, Contango Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs, New Enterprise Associates, Perella Weinberg Partners, Robeco, Susquehanna, Quercus Trust and Craton Equity Partners have all chipped into its sizable coffers.
GridPoint's last acquisition, of home energy management system maker Lixar, came in June. Its products were being tested by Duke Energy at the time. And before that, in September 2008, it bought V2Green, developer of software systems that manage how electric cars are charged based on energy prices.
So far, it seems like GridPoint, which didn't have a very compelling project until its acquisitions, has been able to buy success (the pitch must have been great). It has shaken up the space, and Austin Energy, Duke Energy and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District have taken notice, each working to integrate GridPoint's software and demand response offerings into their grids.
It will be interesting to see which direction the company chooses with its next startup buy. In the meantime, it has a lot of pilot projects to keep tabs on before its technology is more widely adopted.
As more major corporations enter the Smart Grid space -- like Cisco, IBM, General Electric and the like -- startups offering networking, software and demand response services are going to be bought or merge to form larger units. Ironically, GridPoint is leading all of these players as the number one buyer of small Smart Grid companies. Will it be able to build its empire in time to compete with the giants?
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