Orkestra Energy to finetune growth plans with $2 million seed round

Orkestra Energy has earmarked the $2 million (USD 1.27 million) seed funding to accelerate the development and global rollout of its cloud-based energy feasibility modelling tools that are designed to help companies plan, sell, and optimise the rollout of new energy deployments, including solar and battery projects.

James Allston, co-founder and co-Chief Executive Officer of Melbourne-based Orkestra, said the funding will be used to fuel the company’s global expansion initiatives, the development of innovative product features, and the execution of strategic growth plans.

“We’re ready to expand into global markets,” Allston said. “As we progress towards our Series A funding, our primary emphasis will be on optimising our software’s capabilities to streamline and expedite our customers’ processes.”

Founded in 2020, Orkestra offers software-based tools that are designed to improve how commercial and industrial solar, battery, and electric vehicle (EV) charger projects are scoped and sold.

The company said its software as a service (SaaS) platform provides energy companies with the tools necessary to improve both the economics and effectiveness of new energy projects. Orkestra said the platform combines an easy-to-use interface with mathematics and data science to provide advanced modelling capabilities that reduce the cost and time required to evaluate project feasibility and optimise project outcomes.

The seed funding round was led by local investment fund Tidal Ventures, with participation from others including early-stage venture capital firms Rampersand, Impact Ventures and Luxem.

Wendell Keuneman, general partner at Tidal Ventures, said Orkestra’s platform has become an integral tool for nearly every Tier 1 and Tier 2 energy company and commercial and industrial-focused solar installer in Australia.

“We’ve supported Orkestra since pre-seed and firmly believe that their technology and team will continue to have an outsized impact on the clean energy sector,” he said.

Orkestra said it has successfully modelled more than 2,500 projects in 2023 alone and its customers include some of Australia’s biggest names in energy, including Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia.

Eddie Springer, founder and director of Queensland-headquartered Springers Solar, said the Orkestra platform has been a game changer for the solar installation business, enabling staff to provide clients with in-depth feasibility analyses, even delving into more complex projects, including virtual power plants.

“Orkestra has enabled us to fill a void in our ability to accurately provide feasibility studies for commercial solar and battery projects,” he said, adding that the Orkestra platform “provides excellent analysis and sales proposals for our customers, most taking less than 30 minutes.”