OREANDA-NEWS. E.ON has invested in Greensmith, bringing the U.S.-based start-up’s total Series C round to $18.3 million. It is a further step for E.ON to expand its venture-capital activities.

Greensmith is one of the largest providers of energy storage software and integration services. Its mission is to make energy storage a fundamental part of a cleaner, more intelligent and distributed energy infrastructure. Now in its fifth generation, Greensmith’s GEMS software platform optimizes the performance of energy storage by lowering costs and maximizing the system's return on investment through life.

“The energy industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation—E.ON is committed to empowering its customers and promoting decentralized energy solutions while expanding our power grids and making them smarter,” said Susana Quintana-Plaza, Senior Vice President Technology & Innovation E.ON SE. “As such, we needed a partner that could deliver superior results. Greensmith’s innovative software and extensive experience in both battery and PCS integration and control will enable us to extend our energy storage activities and to provide better solutions to our customers. We are pleased about our partnership with Greensmith and look forward to working together.”

E.ON continues to promote innovation by making strategic co-investments in start-ups whose intelligent solutions are helping to shape tomorrow’s energy market. To date, E.ON has taken stakes in more than a dozen start-ups in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Its portfolio is diverse. It has invested in companies ranging from Sungevity (which develops innovative software for planning solar rooftop systems) to Enervee who provides a dynamic platform on which consumers can make more energy-efficient choices when it comes to household appliances, devices and electronics purchases. The start-up AutoGrid is dedicated to bring the power of Big Data, predictive analytics and Internet scale computational techniques to the production and consumption of electricity. In Germany E.ON has invested in Thermondo, a Berlin-based start-up whose online platform enables customers to quickly compare a variety of heating units.