IONATE, a London-based deep tech firm has secured $17 million in Series A funding to tackle this crisis head-on. The oversubscribed round, led by AlbionVC with participation from In-Q-Tel (IQT), JGC MIRAI Innovation Fund, Santander InnoEnergy Climate Fund, and others, signals growing confidence in IONATE’s vision: transforming creaky electrical systems into agile, AI-driven smart grids.
Imagine trying to run a high-speed train on 19th-century railroad tracks. That’s essentially today’s energy grid. Built for a simpler era of one-way power flow from centralized plants, modern grids now juggle solar panels, wind farms, EVs, and data centers—all while battling climate-induced outages. The result? Blackouts, inefficiencies, and a system ill-equipped for renewables.
“Power issues now threaten everything from factories to cloud servers,” explains IONATE CEO Matthew Williams. “Old transformers—the unsung heroes that regulate voltage—can’t handle today’s complexity. They’re dumb, passive boxes in a world that needs real-time smarts.”
IONATE’s solution is its Hybrid Intelligent Transformer (HIT), a device that replaces clunky legacy transformers with a sleek, software-powered upgrade. Think of it as giving the grid a brain and a voice.
The HIT monitors voltage, harmonics, and reactive power, adjusting flows in real time to prevent overloads or dips. Paired with its Aurora software platform, these HITs act as a nervous system for the grid, enabling utilities to spot and fix issues before they escalate.
The impact? Proven stats from pilot projects show grids using HITs can:
Handle 33% more renewables and distributed energy (like rooftop solar or EV chargers),
Transmit 25% more power without costly infrastructure upgrades,
Cut wasted energy by 6%—a big win for both costs and carbon footprints.
IONATE isn’t waiting to scale. Its first major deployment kicks off with energy giant EDP in Portugal and Spain, regions racing to integrate wind and solar. Simultaneously, partnerships with NATO’s DIANA program aim to harden data centers—a sector guzzling 4% of global electricity—against power instability.
By late 2025, the company plans to launch U.S. operations, targeting industrial hubs and utilities scrambling to meet Biden-era climate targets. “Our timing isn’t luck,” Williams adds. “The world just woke up to how much grids matter for everything—from AI to net zero.”
Experts agree: modernizing grids is the linchpin of the energy transition. The International Energy Agency estimates global grid upgrades require $600 billion annually by 2030 to support renewables. Yet most spending still focuses on generation, not distribution.
“IONATE’s approach is clever because it’s incremental,” says energy analyst Clara Ruiz of Greentech Media. “You don’t need to rip out entire grids—just swap transformers. That’s a faster, cheaper path to smart grids.”
With fresh funds, IONATE will ramp up manufacturing, refine its AI software, and chase partnerships in volatile markets like Texas and Japan, where grid strain is acute. Challenges loom—regulatory hurdles, supply chains, and convincing risk-averse utilities—but investors are bullish.
As Zero Carbon Capital’s Pippa Gawley, an early backer, puts it: “This isn’t just a gadget. It’s about rewiring the 20th century’s greatest invention for the 21st century’s greatest challenge.”
Electricity grids are the silent backbone of modern life—and climate progress. Without smarter systems, adding more renewables is like pouring water into a leaky bucket. IONATE’s tech won’t single-handedly fix the grid crisis, but it’s a critical piece of the puzzle. For consumers, this could mean fewer blackouts, lower bills, and a grid that finally keeps up with the energy transition.
