Dive Brief:

• Energy storage software company Greensmith has added one of the world's largest utility companies, E. ON, as another one of its investors for an unspecified sum, bringing its Series C funding round to $18.3 million.
• The investment represents some momentum for Greensmith, which over the summer also received a $5 million commitment from American Electric Power.
• This is the latest funding announcement for battery software, marking growing interest in energy storage by a wide range of market participants. First Solar this week announced it was part of a consortium of investors backing German energy storage software company Younicos.

Dive Insight:

Investors are eyeing energy storage software as two well-known storage software providers have recently announced notable energy companies are backing their products. 

Greensmith now has more than $18 million to use to expand the commercial and technology delivery operations behind its GEMS energy storage software platform. Besides the financing, the company said its new relationship with E.ON will help it take advantage of the rapidly growing European energy storage market.

CEO John Jung issued a statement calling the partnership "an important milestone for Greensmith as we continue to expand globally and serve the European storage market."

Jung said his company recently delivered over one-third of all energy storage capacity installed in the U.S., and continues to see "tremendous momentum around the world. And with Europe's goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 8% by 2050, E.ON is at the forefront of providing sustainable energy solutions to its customers and we are excited to be a part of that vision."

E.ON, a privately-owned utility holding company, serves more than 33 million customers in Europe, Russia, North America, and Turkey.

"The energy industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation – E.ON is committed to empowering its customers and promoting decentralized energy solutions while expanding our power grids and making them smarter," said E. ON SE Senior Vice President Susana Quintana-Plaza. "Greensmith's innovative software and extensive experience in both battery and PCS integration and control will enable us to extend our energy storage activities and to provide better solutions to our customers."

It was the second big piece of news this week in the storage software space as Younicos, a German energy storage software company, scored $50 million in expansion funding. The company did not reveal who was behind the investment, but some say it is the largest investment in an energy storage provider this year.