Egypt: Endure Capital leads $19m investment in smart energy platform
Pylon, the infrastructure management platform transforming electricity and water companies in emerging markets, announced a $19 million seed funding round.
The seed round for the rapidly-growing start-up – which is profitable and grew by 3.5x in 2021 – began with initial funding from US technology start-up accelerator, Y Combinator, and attracted a diverse group of investors from North America and MEA.
This funding round, comprising equity and debt, was led by Endure Capital, which is backed up by CDC, the UK Government’s development finance institution. Also participating were Cathexis Ventures, Khawarizmi Ventures, Loftyinc Ventures, and various high profile angel investors.
Proceeds will accelerate Pylon’s growth via expansion into other emerging markets (South-East Asia, Africa, Latin America) and advance engineering and product development. The start-up is already working with multiple companies across two continents that have deployed more than one million end points of Pylon’s smart grid technology, across 15 distribution companies. Pylon’s goal is to increase its smart metering points to three million by 2023, which would represent 4x year-on-year growth.
Pylon does not charge utility companies an upfront cost for its hardware, but its model, smart metering as a service (SMaaS) makes it easy for cash-conscious utility companies to deploy its solution at scale. With no upfront investment, Pylon can help utility companies increase their top-line by up to 40%, just by signing up.
Pylon democratises smart grid infrastructure to energy and water distribution companies in emerging markets enabling them to capture up to $400 billion of losses and uncollected revenue. Pylon’s platform uses data and artificial intelligence to improve revenue collection, reduce losses and achieve a more efficient environmental footprint.
Ahmed Ashour, co-founder, and CEO of Pylon commented, “We are delighted that our solution received such heightened interest and acclaim from a wide range of global investors. Our impact-driven vision of developing technology to better manage resources, eradicate inefficiencies and remove pain points in the utilities sector raised a call-to-action and many responded.
“Our plug-and-play solution and flexible pricing models give utilities the full benefit of smart grids just by signing with us – increasing their aggregate revenue by up to 40%. With a $22 billion market opportunity, we provide a compelling model for investors who seek a fast-growing, profitable company, which, most importantly, has a significant impact on preserving our planet. Pylon’s ultimate goal is to benefit humanity, our clients, and our stakeholders.
Tarek Fahim, GP and founder of Endure Capital commented, “We are excited to support the strong team at Pylon, who are building a unique software-centric solution to support more sustainable and smart infrastructure for utilities companies in emerging markets. As one of the highest-ever valuations for a seed-stage company in the Middle East and Africa, and we are delighted to be at the forefront of positive change in the region.
“We believe that there is a multi-billion dollar market opportunity at hand, and that Pylon’s frictionless model provides a compelling solution for utility companies to be more efficient, sustainable, and digitally driven. Most importantly, we believe that Pylon will have a significant environmental impact on preserving our planet, benefit our local communities, and create lasting economic value for our own stakeholders.”
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