What Credit Crunch?

The severe credit crisis rippling through the markets didn't stop GridPoint--an Arlington, VA, startup that makes software for smart management of the power grid--from securing $120 million in equity financing, announced yesterday. "Really high quality deals will continue to get funded, despite the current turmoil," Peter Corsell, the company's president and CEO (and a member of this year's TR35), told me at a smart-grid conference in Washington, D.C. He said the money will be used to acquire other startups, starting with V2Green, a company that makes smart-grid software for recharging plug-in hybrids and other electric vehicles. GridPoint is a key player in an effort to upgrade the power grid in Boulder, CO, working with utilities including Duke Energy and Xcel Energy. GridPoint's software provides utilities and consumers a Web-based portal to manage and control electrical demand; it can do things like shut off electric water heaters and pool pumps temporarily in times of high demand. To date, GridPoint has raised more than $220 million.