want to sneak See the grid of the future? Don’t expect the US, Europe or China.Instead, head to Nigeria, where Odyssey Energy Solutions Been working hard. There, unstable and incomplete grids have prompted many businesses and communities to invest in small and microgrids powered by renewable energy and capable of operating independently.
Odyssey has been building a platform to help developers initiate, build and manage distributed renewable energy projects in emerging markets such as Nigeria, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Those efforts helped the company raise a $5.3 million seed round last summer.
Now, just seven months later, Odyssey has closed a $15 million Series A round, TechCrunch+ has learned exclusively. The round was led by Union Square Ventures, with participation from Equal Ventures, Twelve Below, Transition, Equator, MCJ Collective, Abstract Ventures, Founder Collective, and Climate Capital.
The company collects data on every project that flows through its platform, and then uses that data to help investors vet future projects. Some of this data also helps developers procure equipment for their projects, whether it’s solar panels, inverters or other key supplies. On the tail end, the Odyssey has software to control the energy flowing through the developer’s micro and microgrids.
When the company raised its seed round last year, business was doing well. Odyssey co-founder and CEO Emily McAteer told TechCrunch+ that her company has built a network of project developers and has significant capital flowing through the platform in its target market. Its software products also help developers procure power for less and more easily manage the small and microgrids they build. At the time, raising a Series A round was out of the question in the short term.
But things changed over the next few months. “We had some evidence that we wanted to hit the mark when we launched these products, and we got there pretty quickly,” McAteer said. Some key employees also helped them quickly understand some of the other pain points that Odyssey customers often experience. McAteer calls this combination of team and product a “springboard.”
