Smart Grid Leader eMeter Secures $12.5 Million in Latest Round of Funding

SAN MATEO, Calif., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- eMeter Corporation, a leader in Smart Grid management software, today announced the close of a $12.5 million round of private financing led by longtime investors Sequoia Capital and Foundation Capital, and joined by new investor Northgate Capital looking to leverage eMeter's leadership providing software solutions to enable successful Smart Grid implementations. Given the exponential growth of the Smart Grid industry over the past year, eMeter will use the new funding to expand eMeter's sales and marketing efforts in key markets, enhance services to current customers and continue investing in new products.

Since the last round of funding almost a year ago, the company has hired industry-recognized enterprise software veteran Gary Bloom as CEO, while continuing to show tremendous growth working with leading technology partners, such as IBM, Intergraph, SAP and Siemens, and signing new utility customers including Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, Burbank Water and Power, Centerpoint Energy, Silicon Valley Power, Westar Energy, Central Vermont Power and most recently, Wabash Energy here in the U.S. Internationally, eMeter inked deals with UK-based Electralink, Ontario, Canada's Independent Electricity System Operator, Germany's EnBW Ostwurttemberg Donau Ries AG and Umetriq, and Vattenfall AB, Europe's fourth largest generator of electricity and the largest producer of heat, and is responsible for over 6 million utility customers across Finland, Sweden, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. Finally, leading analyst firm Gartner gave eMeter a "positive" ranking in its latest "Marketscope for Meter Data Management Products" report, while The Wall Street Journal recognized the company as one of the top 10 venture-backed clean technology companies.

Gary Bloom, CEO of eMeter, said, "As a result of our maniacal focus on the customer, the eMeter platform is being used in the most successful Smart Grid deployments around the world. I'm pleased to welcome Northgate Capital to our growing list of investors at a time when more and more utilities and consumers are embracing Smart Grid technology. With this additional capital, and the continued support of both Sequoia and Foundation, we have further strengthened the company for continued growth and momentum working with and educating utilities and consumers worldwide about eMeter's unique approach to enabling the Smart Grid."

About eMeter

eMeter provides essential software that enables electric, gas and water utilities to realize the full benefits of Smart Grid. Leading utilities worldwide depend on eMeter Smart Grid Management software to reduce operational costs, improve customer service, and drive energy efficiency. With the most large-scale deployments in the industry and strategic partnerships with Accenture, IBM, Logica, and Siemens, eMeter has built a reputation for unparalleled expertise that ensures customer success. For more information visit: www.emeter.com.

About Sequoia Capital

Sequoia Capital provides venture capital funding to founders of startups who want to turn business ideas into enduring companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs", Sequoia Capital's Partners have worked with innovators such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of NetApp, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of NVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube, Dominic Orr and Keerti Melkote of Aruba Wireless Networks and Jonathan Kaplan of Pure Digital. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com.

About Foundation Capital

Founded in 1995, Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm committed to supporting entrepreneurs and their companies, targeting innovative opportunities in cleantech, consumer Internet, and infrastructure; telecommunications and networking; and enterprise software and on demand services. Foundation Capital funds total more than $2.4 billion. For more information, visit www.foundationcapital.com.

SOURCE eMeter Corporation