Companion.energy secures €7.8M for immediate enterprise energy solutions.

      The seed funding round, led by Realyze Ventures and Pi Labs, aims to support expansion into Germany and Spain as unstable power markets compel large industrial companies to move beyond traditional spreadsheets.

      Electricity used to fluctuate with the seasons, but now it varies minute by minute, making it difficult for the spreadsheets that many large industrial firms still depend on to manage energy effectively.

      Companion.energy, a startup based in Ghent that automates the procurement and usage of power for large enterprises, has secured €7.8 million in a seed round to promote this solution across Europe. The funding was primarily provided by Realyze Ventures of Germany and the UK’s Pi Labs, with Asterion Ventures from Paris joining in as its first investment outside of France, alongside support from existing investors.

      Founded in 2022 by Belgian engineers Thomas Vyncke and Jonas Verstraeten, Companion.energy offers software to industrial and commercial enterprises that spend millions annually on energy.

      The platform integrates a company’s energy contracts, operational systems, and diverse assets—such as batteries, solar panels, and electric vehicle chargers—into a unified system that predicts demand, assesses market risks, and automates decisions as prices fluctuate.

      The pitch is based on a fundamental shift in European power markets. With an increasing number of renewable sources and greater electrification in industries, prices that used to change according to seasonal patterns now vary throughout the day.

      “Energy prices that once moved seasonally now fluctuate in real time,” Vyncke stated, noting that many businesses still cope with the resulting complexities “using fragmented tools, spreadsheets, and outdated procurement processes.”

      Dhruv Gupta, a principal at Pi Labs, described this change as a transition “from a recommendation engine to a system of execution,” suggesting that enterprise energy software is evolving to take action rather than just offer advice.

      Companion.energy reports that its platform currently manages over 2 TWh of yearly energy consumption and production, amounting to approximately €500 million in combined expenses and revenues, with revenue increasing tenfold to exceed €1 million in annual recurring revenue in the year leading up to mid-2026.

      The company asserts that its automation can reduce clients' energy costs by 10 to 30 percent, although these claims are self-reported and have not undergone independent verification.

      The software is divided into two components: Prism, which analyzes a company’s operational and financial energy data to identify improvement opportunities, and Propel, which utilizes those forecasts to make autonomous decisions that guide assets in real time.

      The fresh investment will enhance the optimization of multiple assets and markets and facilitate commercial growth across Europe, beginning with Germany and Spain. This follows a previous round of €2.1 million in 2024 and highlights the rapidly growing investor interest in the less glamorous software sector underpinning the energy transition.

      Verstraeten articulated the investment clearly, stating that the transition will necessitate that all large industrial firms actively manage their energy, and they “would not be able to achieve that with spreadsheets and quarterly check-ins.” Whether Companion.energy will establish itself as the primary system for these companies or simply demonstrate the demand for this category that larger competitors will pursue remains to be seen over the next decade. For now, the company has €7.8 million to help make its case.