With less than two weeks until its Crowdcube funding round comes to an end, technology startup Verv has secured its initial £500,000 target thanks to more than 500 investors.
Launched in 2014, Verv revealed it has developed an intelligent energy assistant which uses high-speed energy analytics and machine learning to power appliances. The company, which now has six patents, is backed by Centrica (British Gas) and mentored by Googled. It has sold units to British Gas, EDF, and Allianz.
“Verv’s plug and play product samples your home electricity 1 million times a second (ahead of the government smart meter standards at every 5 to 10 seconds), creating an ultra-high resolution of your energy usage for Verv’s energy monitoring AI to pinpoint each appliance turning on or off in your home.”
Verv also noted the ways that its energy assistant can benefit homes in the UK:
- Allows users to look at their energy bill to see the exact cost/usage breakdown on every appliance in their home.
- Users can automatically receive alerts on their phone if a critical device has been left on for too long (i.e. curling iron, hair straightener) or if there is activity in their house while they are not there.
- Users will also be alerted if an electrical appliance has broken down with a problem remotely diagnosed.
Funds from the campaign will be used to continue Verv’s expansion. The company then revealed the funds it has previously secured:
“Having financed initial product development through consultancy work, in 2015 Verv secured £750k in seed funding from Centrica (Convertible loan). Verv has subsequently raised an additional £1m in convertible equity and £450k in grant funding – taking total investment to £2.2m, with investors including the founder of Opus Energy and the ex-CEO of Scottish & Southern Electricity.”
Verv’s Crowdcube initiative is set to close on November 1st.
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