PowerX Supercharges Home Utilities With $4M Seed Round

PowerX received a capital infusion of $4 million in seed funding to accelerate the development of its suite of environmental and energy cost-saving products.

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Spring Tide Capital led the round, joining Antler, senior executives from Tesla and SpaceX, and Y Combinator, which previously invested in PowerX. In addition to the new round, PowerX raised $400,000 in pre-seed funds, according to Manuel Schönfeld, founder and CEO of PowerX.

Schönfeld founded Brooklyn-based PowerX in 2020, creating a line of precision sensors that gather data about a home’s electricity, gas and water usage. The company then leverages artificial intelligence to optimize the utilities, saving homeowners, on average, hundreds annually on their utility bills after installing PowerX, he told Crunchbase News.

The sensors can also assist with reducing a household’s carbon output, reminders to turn off or unplug appliances, alerts to replace broken appliances, and water leaks.

“Climate technology is so important, and it is not just knocking on our doors, but knocking them down,” Schönfeld said. “We have a suite of products that are quick to install and take down. With the data we get, we can drill down and say your washing machine is costing you three times what you should be paying.”

Zander Rafael, managing director of Spring Tide Capital, said in an interview that he saw what Schönfeld and his team were doing as “extremely rare.” Not only was it a money-saving device that took only 15 minutes to install, but it was saving money with no diminishment of service.

He also liked that Schönfeld wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty: Rafael met Schönfeld and his partner in Schönfeld’s garage where they were hand-soldering the sensors.

“It’s so rare to find a company that makes money and reduces carbon footprint,” Rafael added. “As we started to get to know Manu, we realized he is a rare breed. He spent years at McKinsey and the World Bank, so he is highly analytical, but he is also very scrappy. He has horsepower, but is also willing to roll up his sleeves and get it done.”

Meanwhile, the new funding will go toward hiring engineers, marketers and data scientists, product development and its warehousing, and supply chain capabilities.

The company also offers enterprise tools designed to help large building owners and operators understand their carbon emissions, energy and water costs.

Schönfeld expects to begin shipping products later this year and recently concluded a Kickstarter campaign to fund the first production run.

“We intend to get an amazing team together,” he added. “We want to be in 10,000 homes by the end of the year in the U.S.”

Illustration: Dom Guzman