NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Odyssey, a business-in-a-box software platform for distributed energy in emerging markets, today announced the closing of its $15 million Series A round led by Union Square Ventures, with additional participation from Equal Ventures, Twelve Below, Transition, Equator, MCJ Collective, Abstract Ventures, Founder Collective and Climate Capital. The new funding will be used to continue expansion of Odyssey’s key product offerings and expand into new markets, including Latin America and Asia.

“Odyssey is at the center of one of the biggest economic and climate opportunities of our lifetimes: the clean energy transition in emerging markets,” said Emily McAteer, co-founder and CEO of Odyssey. “Not only are aging and weak grids and high fuel costs making renewable energy the best solution for the future, significant policy tailwinds are helping drive change at the global level.”

Odyssey is the only end-to-end platform of its kind, built to scale project development across the project lifecycle: planning, financing, procurement and operations. Odyssey has $1.3 billion of financing for distributed renewable energy projects on the platform, with financing available from development finance institutions, donors, international and regional banks, infrastructure funds, and other types of capital providers.

Earlier this year, Odyssey launched their procurement marketplace, Odyssey Procure, across Nigeria, South Africa and East Africa. Odyssey Procure offers a digital, streamlined procurement solution for renewable energy companies to unlock better pricing, equipment finance, and faster lead times.

By leveraging their network of 2,000-plus renewable energy companies, Odyssey helps private and concessional financiers access projects that were previously out of reach. The platform offers advanced software tools to efficiently plan projects, aggregate portfolios, and streamline diligence between developers and investors. After projects have been built, Odyssey’s suite of remote monitoring and control hardware and software enables renewable energy companies to share asset performance data, ensuring that investors have full visibility into investment outcomes.

“By building tools for financiers and renewable energy companies across every stage of development, Odyssey is positioned as the system of record for DRE projects in emerging markets,” said Nick Grossman, partner, Union Square Ventures. “Odyssey’s platform streamlines transactions across all stakeholders and presents powerful network efforts that will unlock industry scale.”

To  meet net-zero emissions goals by 2050, investment  in energy infrastructure in emerging markets will need to increase sixfold over the coming  years – to  $1 trillion per year (BlackRock). To date, 70% of the world’s population, mostly in developing economies, receives only 1.5% of global investments. The off-grid sector, which is Odyssey’s focus, saw a tripling in average transaction size over the past five years.

Photo courtesy of cowins.