Energy, Utilities & Water March 28, 2019 7:03:05 pm

Catalyze gets $4.6 million investment

By Lucas High

BOULDER and FORT COLLINS — Catalyze, a Boulder-based startup specializing in renewable energy data analytics, closed on a $4.6 million investment from Fort Collins-based Innosphere Fund and Houston-based Prisma Energy.

The Catalyze platform partners with mid-to-large commercial and industrial real estate owners to transform their properties into smart energy infrastructure by designing, delivering and providing asset management services. The smart energy infrastructure includes solar, battery electric storage, electric vehicle charging and microgrids.

The funding will be used to expand Catalyze’s operations, finance and sales teams.

“The first phase of our business was focused on designing our platform around commercial real estate customer needs,” said Joel Serface, Catalyze CEO, in a prepared statement. “This funding paves the way for Catalyze to deliver more projects and more value to more customers, while also making key hires to help scale the business.”

Catalyze believes commercial real estate can play a major role in addressing energy storage in distribution systems and at real estate sites. The platform helps real estate firms rapidly identify ideal properties to upgrade or acquire with the intent to deploy smart energy infrastructure at those locations.

“Catalyze is turning commercial properties into virtual power plants,” Mike Freeman, Innosphere Fund general partner, said in a statement. “The company has the analytics and leadership to increase commercial real estate performance through renewable energy. The Catalyze team represents the best of what we like to invest in with extensive expertise in renewable development, software, finance, and entrepreneurship. The Innosphere Fund is pleased to be able to invest in a company that’s identifying and creating a unique solution targeted to a very large, transitioning market.”