Australian renewables focused energy retailer Amber Electric has raised $45 million in a latest funding round designed to accelerate the company’s growth and expand its battery and electric vehicle (EV) automation technology overseas.
Amber, a technology company and electricity retailer headquartered in Melbourne, says the $45 million funding round was led by European investor ETF Partners (The Environmental Technologies Fund), a venture capital firm dedicated to sustainability and impact investing.
Participation in the funding round also came from existing backers including Square Peg, Gentrack, Rubio Impact Ventures, and Breakthrough Victoria.
“We’re proving there’s a better way to do energy – with technology that puts customers at the centre of the energy transition,” said Dan Adams, co-founder and co-CEO of Amber.
“This investment is a huge step forward in our mission to help households around the world take control of their energy, reduce costs, and support the energy transition.
“As more countries shift to decentralised, renewable energy, we’re excited to bring Amber’s model to the world stage – helping to build smarter energy systems everywhere.”
This latest fund raise is timed to position Amber to take advantage of the federal government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program rebate, which comes into effect on July 1, and promises to further accelerate the country’s battery market.
Already, 40 per cent of Australia’s new automated home batteries take advantage of Amber’s service, which provides customers with access to real-time wholesale electricity prices as well as the technology necessary to automate their home batteries and EVs to charge when cheaper renewables are available on the grid.
They can earn money by discharging at times when energy prices are higher.
Amber is also in the process of building its own vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability that will add electric vehicles (EVs) to the automation mix.
The influx of additional capital will also help Amber to capitalise on its increasing presence in the United Kingdom and Europe. Amber has already signed deals with British green electricity retailer Ecotricity and E.On, one of the largest utilities in the UK.
Amber’s international strategy is also partly tied up with one of its repeat investors, Gentrack, who first invested in Amber back at the beginning of 2024 to the tune of $12 million and has subsequently invested a further $4.5 million in this latest capital raise.
Gentrack’s initial investment also included an agreement which would see the two companies develop, sell, and deploy internationally an end-to-end solution for billing, care, and optimisation for household batteries, EV chargers, and other smart devices.
Amber will therefore license its technology through Gentrack’s existing global network of customers, and the two will offer bundled solutions that combine Gentrack’s billing and CRM systems with Amber’s automation software.
