Home battery champion raises $78.5 million towards local growth, global expansion

Renewables focused electricity retailer and home energy management specialist, Amber, has has closed its latest funding round with a further $78.5 million to put towards plans for accelerated local growth – including to develop vehicle-to-grid services – and expansion into global markets.

Amber said on Tuesday that the nearly twice oversubscribed round was led by 1GT, Morgan Stanley’s climate tech fund, with strong participation from existing backers Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF Partners), Innovation Victoria and E.ON.

Amber gives residential customers access to real-time wholesale electricity prices and the technology to automate their home batteries, allowing them to store energy when cheap renewables are available and to earn money by discharging when prices spike. 

The retailer’s flagship offering, which does not identify as a virtual power plant, claims to have become the largest residential battery automation product in Australia, orchestrating more than half of the batteries installed in what has rapidly become one of the world’s most advanced markets for home energy storage.

But the company now wishes to export this model to markets beyond Australia’s shores and has embarked on a series of fundraising rounds to bankroll its mission, including a $45 million round in June of last year, led by European investor Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF) Partners, a venture capital firm dedicated to sustainability and impact investing.

Already, Amber’s technlogy underpins Next Optimise, E.ON Next’s smart energy tariff and home battery and EV automation product, which launched in the UK in March.

But Amber co-founder and co-CEO Chris Thompson says this latest injection of capital positions the company to “double down” on its plans for expansion across Europe.

“We’ve built the winning energy automation platform in Australia, and this funding will enable us to extend our leadership across Europe,” Thompson said on Tuesday.

“Our partnership with E.ON is already showing what’s possible, and we’re excited to build on that momentum with more partners across the region.”

Amber is also using the investment funds to roll out the next generation of its technology, which includes vehicle-to-grid (V2G) functionality, which allows customers to earn money by selling energy from their EV back to the grid when it’s needed most. 

Vikram Raju, head of climate private equity investing at Morgan Stanley Investment Management and 1GT says it is keen to help accelerate Amber’s next phase of development and to support the broader transformation of electricity systems in Australia and Europe.

“We believe the company’s innovative platform, talented team and clear strategic vision position it well to capitalise on the growing need for distributed energy solutions across global markets,” Raju said on Tuesday.

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