Increased staff numbers and international expansion is being targeted by Smarter Grid Solutions following its maiden institutional funding round.

The four-year old technology business, which is based in Glasgow and London, has netted £3 million from Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) and Scottish Enterprise through the Scottish Investment Bank and the University of Strathclyde.

Smarter Grid Solutions’ grid management software provides power companies with ways to manage electricity network congestion issues.

It will now be looking to increase its staff numbers to 30 and will put the £3 million to work so it can meet what it describes as ‘substantial’ international demand for smart grid technology. The business predicts that the market will be worth in excess of £35 billion by 2020.

In early 2012 SEP partnered with FTSE 100 company Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) to raise a £95 million secondary fund – its Environmental Energies Fund (EEF) – focused exclusively on clean tech companies.

The acquired fund included investments in nine companies across the renewables market including Anesco, Cyberhawk and Smarter Grid Solutions.

Prior to that, Smarter Grid Solutions had completed a small undisclosed funding round in 2010, aided by SSE.

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Smarter Grid Solutions has outlined plans to open a base in New York to head up its efforts in North America, making the site its third location.

Company managing director Alan Gooding believes the funding round is a ‘huge endorsement’ of the firm’s plans for future growth.

He adds, ‘Our cost-effective solutions meet the increasing demand for low carbon electricity by deferring the need for major investment in new power lines, maximising the efficiency of the existing power grid and enabling earlier connections for renewable generation.’

Technology devised by Smarter Grid Solutions is currently being used by five of the UK’s six electricity distribution companies including SSE, UK Power Networks and Northern Power Grid.

Tony Robinson, principal at SEP, comments, ‘This investment, combined with the excellent track record of the management team and the sheer scale of the potential market on offer, will enable the company to build on its position as the leading provider of active network management solutions to the smart grid sector.’