[Funding]: Grid automation StartUp Probus Smart Things raises undisclosed seed investment from Unicorn India Ventures

Probus Smart Things is an Electricity Distribution Grid Automation startup. The company has announced that it has raised an undisclosed seed investment from UIV’s Fund II. Mumbai-based early-stage VC Fund house Unicorn India Ventures has announced its fourth investment from Rs 400 crore Fund II. The funds will be used to strengthen the software platform and to expand the scale to different geographies. The company aims to energy utilities to save money in the last-mile power distribution segment.

About Probus Smart Things

The IoT enabled Smart Grid Automation startup Probus develops integrated hardware and software solutions for utility providers. Currently, its scope of solutions encompasses asset management, outage management, energy management, operations management and smart metering. It aims to increase the per capita consumption of electricity in India by 10X, which is presently 1/3 of the global average. The StartUp wants to do this by reducing the distribution losses in the Indian electricity distribution grid.

Talking about the StartUp, Anand Singh, Co-founder CEO, Probus Smart Things, says:

“India is a power surplus country. But the distortions in the power sector have cost the Indian economy $86 billion in 2016 alone. Current technologies like SCADA are expensive and not scalable in terms of the size & complexity of India's electricity distribution grid. Using our IoT enabled wireless, modular hardware & data analytics platform, we cut through these issues and are enabling electric utilities to make last-mile connectivity reliable by helping India achieve an efficient electricity grid within a fraction of their current costs.”

Probus is Unicorn India’s 4th investment since Mar 2020 from Fund II.

Commenting on the investment, Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says:

“The electricity distribution infrastructure is ripe with opportunities for innovation. It also has the ability to embrace the elements of smart grid infrastructure. Probus enables electricity distribution companies to rapidly digitize their infrastructure and processes by bringing cost reduction and operational efficiency. This is a service that isn't just pertinent in India but will fare well in the rest of the South East Asian market and Europe as well.”

The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need for the digital distribution grid. It helped in efficient and timely billing and loss reduction. Here, Probus's solution gives the distributors real-time visibility of asset performance, outages, root cause analysis. It also predicts and provided preventive maintenance through sensor data. It has scheduling and tracking of on-field personnel