Investor Growth Capital, VantagePoint, ABB, and GE Invest in Trilliant
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Thursday, July 15th 2010 [ME NewsWire]:
(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Trilliant Incorporated, a leader in delivering Smart Grid solutions that enhance energy efficiency, utility operations, and renewable resource integration, today announced that it has closed financing totaling $106 million from a global syndicate of industry and financial leaders. The financing round was led by two highly respected financial investors, Investor Growth Capital (the wholly-owned venture arm of Investor AB of Sweden) and VantagePoint Venture Partners and two leading global grid-related equipment companies, ABB and GE. The financing, which was syndicated by Deutsche Bank, also includes a significant credit facility from a major venture credit provider as well as continuing financial support from existing investors MissionPoint Capital Partners and zouk ventures. The new investment will be used to finance Trilliant's continued growth in North America and globally.
"Our new investors represent some of the largest and most trusted companies in the utility industry," according to Andy White, president and CEO of Trilliant. "Their combined industry experience, financial strength, and global footprint will provide us with the resources to expand our Smart Grid solutions across North America and to a global marketplace. The strength and caliber of our partners will give current and future customers confidence that they have chosen a long-term market leader."
Trilliant provides utilities around the world with comprehensive, secure, standards-based, and real-time Smart Grid communication network solutions. Trilliant has over 200 utility customers, including Hydro One in Ontario, Canada. Hydro One has deployed Trilliant smart communications to over 1.1 million customers in support of the largest operating time-of-use billing program in the world. Trilliant’s multi-tier architecture, which connects utility distribution, metering, and consumer energy management devices, remains the industry's only fully integrated end-to-end Smart Grid solution.
"Trilliant has demonstrated a proven track record of helping utilities successfully deploy large-scale Smart Grid solutions," according to Dr. Albert Kim, managing director at Investor Growth Capital. "It is clear that Trilliant's combination of product differentiation and project implementation expertise provides utilities with the most functional, expandable and cost-effective path to a Smart Grid communications network. We look forward to lending our global expertise to such an important industry leader as Trilliant. IGC has been tracking the Smart Grid arena for many years and we have grown increasingly excited recently about the tremendous opportunities. We could not be more enthusiastic to be leading such an exquisite syndicate of institutional and strategic investors."
"The global Smart Grid market represents a transformation of how utilities and consumers interact with energy supply and demand," said Stephan Dolezalek, head of the CleanTech Practice at VantagePoint Venture Partners. "This transformation requires a combination of technological leadership, financial strength and significant corporate backing from global players. We believe that this financing and this team of participants clearly puts Trilliant at the forefront of this market and provides utilities with validated solutions and real-world expertise to realize the long-term benefits from a Smart Grid communications network."
"Today's utilities are looking for a unique combination of proven deployments, scalable, globally applicable solutions, and product leadership," added Girish Nadkarni, Managing Director of ABB Technology Ventures. "We invest in companies that have technologies of strategic interest to us and as Trilliant addresses all three issues, it makes them a compelling choice. We look forward to lending our global expertise and presence to them."
"GE and Trilliant are aligned around a common vision to modernize the power grid to support the energy needs of our 21st century society. Our companies have a shared commitment to bringing enhanced communications and information technology to our power grid. Through real-time knowledge and information sharing, a smarter grid will empower consumers to manage energy usage and costs, optimize the integration of cleaner energy sources, and drive increased energy efficiencies," according to Luke Clemente, General Manager, Metering and Sensing for GE's Digital Energy business. "Our investment in Trilliant strengthens our collaborative efforts to bring metering and consumer solutions to a wide variety of Smart Grid opportunities."
About Trilliant Incorporated
Trilliant Incorporated provides hardware, software and service solutions that deliver on the promise of Advanced Metering and Smart Grid to utilities and their customers including improved energy efficiency, grid reliability, lower operating cost, and integration of renewable energy resources. Since its original founding in 1985, Trilliant has been a leading innovator in the delivery and implementation of energy management systems, including advanced utility wireless data collection for residential and commercial customers, demand response, time-of-use billing, and critical peak pricing initiatives. Trilliant currently has more than 200 utility customers including Hydro One, one of the largest Smart Grid implementations in North America. For more information, please visit http://www.trilliantinc.com.
All brands and names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective holders.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Element Public Relations for Trilliant
Tim Smith,
415-350-3019
tsmith@elementpr.com
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