Gridsight raises $26m to unlock capacity on Australia's grids

Sydney-based Gridsight has secured US$26 million in Series B funding to accelerate its expansion in the United States and Australia. The round was led by New York venture capital investor Insight Partners, with participation from Galvanize, Airtree, Energy Transition Ventures and Aera VC.

The company, founded in 2020 by Brendan Banfield and Kurt Walkom, uses artificial intelligence to help electric utilities identify and unlock unused capacity on distribution networks. The platform addresses a growing challenge: electricity demand is rising after years of stagnant growth because of AI data centres, electric vehicles and electrification, while new infrastructure is often costly and slow to build.

"Our work with Australian utilities has helped the company prove itself to American operators, who view Australia as an early indicator of future grid management challenges," said co-founder Brendan Banfield. The company has already secured deals with American energy providers including Xcel Energy and Avangrid subsidiary United Illuminating.

From Sydney to the world

Gridsight's founders have been friends since childhood in Goulburn, south of Sydney. Third co-founder Hugh Chan met Walkom at university. The company now splits its time between both markets, with one founder expected to be based mainly in the US next year.

Industry sources place the company valuation at approximately US$200 million following the Series B. The round follows a US$4.5 million Series A raised 16 months earlier, led by Airtree, with cricketer Pat Cummins among the investors.

The grid intelligence challenge

Insight Partners managing director Rachel Geller said the energy transition is stress testing utility networks in ways they were not designed to handle. "Gridsight's AI-driven capacity management solutions are helping utilities connect more customers and distributed resources faster," she said.

The company's technology comes at a critical moment. Australia's energy market operator reported a record 9.1 GW of new renewable generation and storage capacity in the past financial year, but the connections pipeline continues to expand faster than the infrastructure to support it.

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