Buzz Solutions, an AI company that inspects and protects critical energy infrastructure, announced it closed a $5 million growth funding round. GoPoint Ventures led the round, with Blackhorn Ventures and MaC Venture Capital also participating.
This funding round follows a period of significant acceleration in customer adoptions as utilities demand more efficient and accurate T&D infrastructure inspections and substation security.
The global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – or drone market – is predicted to hit over $10 billion within the next decade. And within this market, the commercial drone use cases continue to grow, including for training and development (T&D) asset inspection. However, with increased drone use for visual inspections and image capture, utilities must analyze and harvest actionable insights from thousands of images taken across hundreds of miles of infrastructure. And utilities require better substation surveillance and equipment condition assessment solutions via fixed cameras to prevent substation attacks and theft.
Buzz Solutions utilizes the power of AI to address these needs. The company gained significant market traction with utilities that utilize its PowerAI platform for visual infrastructure inspections and predictive maintenance. The company enables field teams to identify anomalies and prioritize maintenance to reduce the likelihood of grid-sparked wildfires, forced shutdowns, and power outages. And at substations, utilities deploy PowerGUARD, which is Buzz’s AI solution for fixed camera systems offering 24/7 surveillance, equipment monitoring, condition assessments, and fire or smoke-related alerts all in real-time.
The funding round brings the total raised to $10.7 million with a previous round of $3.3 million from 2022 and two $1.2 million convertible notes in 2020 and in early 2023. And Buzz plans to deploy the capital to scale both PowerAI and PowerGUARD offerings across utilities in the U.S. and internationally.
Buzz Solutions was founded in 2017 by entrepreneurs Kaitlyn Albertoli and Vikhyat Chaudhry, two Stanford graduates who connected over a shared passion for environmental sustainability and technology innovation.
KEY QUOTES:
“We started with a mission to provide utilities with the most efficient and accurate way to inspect and safeguard the world’s power infrastructure. Over seven years, we’ve collaborated with key leaders across utility operations, technology, and asset management, working to solve their most pressing grid modernization needs. These industry insights coupled with our deep AI expertise have underpinned our success and positioned Buzz as the market leader. This latest round of financing will fund our next growth phase and expansion into new use cases associated with inspecting and monitoring critical infrastructure.”
– CEO Kaitlyn Albertoli
“Utilities are increasingly deploying AI to help tackle challenges related to safety and environmental sustainability in a cost-efficient way. With the most accurate AI-powered solutions on the market, Buzz is quickly becoming the power industry’s leading partner in infrastructure inspections and substation security. Buzz Solutions helps utilities conduct more efficient and accurate inspections, reduce the risk of infrastructure failure, and safeguard critical assets – all while saving millions of dollars annually.”
– David Zusman, Managing Partner at GoPoint Ventures
