2023

AI platform specializes in utility energy management, leading the way in digital transformation and forecasting for the entire energy industry value chain.

Ogre AI Soulmates Ventures

Ogre AI

Climate-tech boosting financial and operational efficiency by improved decision-making for the energy industry supporting the green transition.

Milestones

Invested 10/2023

Team

Matei Stratan - Co-Founder & CEO
Paul Musca - Co-Founder & CTO
Mihai Cucuringu - Co-Founder & CRO

Partners

Soulmates Ventures
MMC Ventures
Early Game Ventures

ogre.ai

The highlights

The solution

The award-winning startup Ogre AI brings a unique data analytics AI & ML platform delivering significant savings to market players in the energy industry by providing cutting-edge forecasts. The platform comprises of six modules – Generation Forecast, Demand Forecast, Prosumers (*Producer + Consumer) Forecast, Technical Losses Forecast, Anomaly Detection and Non-technical Losses Detection that can be seamlessly integrated separately or in combination depending on the needs of the client.

Ogre’s team found a way to use real-time data from weather sensors, satellite imagery, and other sources to deliver highly accurate forecasts, allowing energy providers to optimise their operations and reduce costs. The platform leverages AI & ML technologies and provides state of the art analytics solutions for energy utilities in Electricity, Gas, District Heating, Water & Wastewater starting from forecasting, but expanding also to energy management and digitalisation for the whole energy value chain.

The uniqueness

Ogre AI team combines extensive experience in the energy sector of like-minded professionals with deep expertise in mathematics, data analytics and modelling, AI and ML, from Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, Princeton and the Alan Turing Institute.

Additionally, the platform provides several technological features that make it unique because of its adaptability, including Plug & Play, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Data Sources, Big Data, and Cloud. It is technology-agnostic and can also be deployed in any other cloud network (AWS/Azure/GCP), or on-premises – enabling them to acquire new worldwide customers with ease.

The solution and the team’s pioneering work have earned Ogre AI recognition as one of “10 innovative up-and-coming startups from Romania to watch in 2023 and beyond,” according to EU-Startups. Ogre AI has also been recognised as one of the “Startups of The Month – September 2023” by Vestbee demonstrating their leadership in the field and selected as the winner of this year Vestbee’s CEE Startup Challenge.

The challenges

The Ogre AI team is responding to a long-term trend in the energy sector globally, where with the increase in the share of renewables and their decentralised deployment, there are significant fluctuations in supply and demand leading to significant losses in the energy market. Better forecasting of these represents a major positive reversal.

Under the current (EU) regulations it is mandatory for all energy market operators to forecast on a daily basis – the forecast is used to notify the system and to trade on the energy exchanges. But with the deployment of renewables and their harder predictability, the energy sector infrastructure is not really ready for that.

Average quality forecasts today result in huge financial losses – according to Ogre AI up to 40% of every MW and around – 20 cents / $1 on average. In addition, rapid electrification caused by electrifying mobility and other sectors, coupled with grid imbalances may cause severe grid resilience and stability problems. This is just part of the current problems, where Ogre AI forecast can help.

The purpose

Ogre AI has already made a considerable impact on sustainability by forecasting 90% of all electricity demand and 85% of the local grid technical losses in their local market in Romania, and 70% of forecast of electricity demand in Greece – covering in total over 15M consumers (households, commercial and industrial).

The reason for energy utilities to cooperate with Ogre AI is very clear – in some cases, the solution achieved a reduction of the financial losses of the energy partners by up to 30%.

The long-term goal is to reduce the energy transition duration by up to 10% – by increasing savings and investment capabilities in the energy value chain, increasing the integration and leveraging of renewables, reducing green transition costs, lowering CO2eq emissions, making energy more affordable and increasing grid resilience and stability.

The profit

Ogre AI economic opportunity lies in the energy transition to a more sustainable, independent, self-sufficient energy mix – where a big part will be played by renewables. And the trend is clear as renewables are taking over the worldwide energy generation scene and solar energy has become the cheapest source to deploy today.

Bloomberg stated that over $100 trillion is needed for the energy transition and the energy companies need to be technically prepared, otherwise they may face big financial challenges. This contributed to the utility and energy analytics market revenue reaching US$ 2.2 Billion in 2021. The utility and energy analytics market is expected to reach $9.8 billion by 2032, as it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 14.7% from 2022 to 2032. According to the founder of Ogre AI, Matei Stratan, the market size today is around $3.5 – $4 billion a year.

The Ogre AI solution is used in the European market by industry leaders like CEZ Group, Enel Group, Engie, E.ON, Heron, PPC and others. Their main focus is right now on the CEE region, with active projects in Romania, Greece and Austria. Future endeavour is to extend to the entire Europe and other countries worldwide. With their monetization streams based on SaaS/PaaS and Licensing revenue models, they are on track to reaching recurring revenues of 1 million euros in one year and exceed 2 million euros in two years.

International VC funds MMC Ventures and Early Game Ventures also decided to support the vision of the Orge team, led by Soulmates Ventures. Ultimately, Ogre’s goal is to have the #1 AI forecasting solution on the market and that top tier climate-tech will boost investment capabilities for the go-green agenda.

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Sustainability

  • Step 1

    Sustainable Development Goals

    The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

    • SDG 1

      No Poverty

      End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

    • SDG 2

      Zero Hunger

      End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

    • SDG 6

      Clean Water and Sanitation

      SDG 6

      Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

    • SDG 7

      Affordable and Clean Energy

      Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

    • SDG 8

      Decent Work and Economic Growth

      Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

    • SDG 9

      Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

      SDG 9

      Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

    • SDG 11

      Sustainable Cities and Communities

      Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

    • SDG 12

      Responsible Consumption and Production

      SDG 12

      Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

    • SDG 13

      Climate Action

      SDG 13

      Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

    • SDG 14

      Life Below Water

      SDG 14

      Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

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