ImpactAlpha, May 26 — More than 4 million acres burned during California’s wildfire season last year, which included the first ‘gigafire’ of more than a million acres (see, “Wildfires bring to the fore financing for forest resilience”).
Sacramento, Calif.-based Gridware’s monitoring hardware, mounted on utility poles, uses sensors and software to detect anomalies that could affect the grid’s performance or ignite wildfires.
“Gridware’s technology has the potential to be hugely impactful in reducing rampant wildfires,” said Pricilla Tyler of True Ventures, which co-led the venture’s $5.3 million seed financing round with impact tech VC firm Fifty Years.
The company will use the funding to pilot its wildfire prevention partnerships with utilities. Investors include Y-Combinator, Liquid 2 Ventures, Wireframe Ventures, SOMA Capital, Anorak Ventures and other funds and angel investors.
