An energy technology startup, PowerLabs, has raised a pre-seed round to develop an AI-driven platform aimed at improving coordination across multiple energy sources used by businesses.
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The development comes as businesses in Nigeria spent N1.11 trillion on alternative energy in 2024, a 42 per cent increase year-on-year, with much of the spending sustaining operations rather than improving efficiency.
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Businesses across the country are already running hybrid power systems, combining grid supply, diesel generators, solar panels and batteries, but these systems often operate without coordinated management.
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PowerLabs said its product, Pai Enterprise, is designed to manage multiple energy sources simultaneously by modelling demand, predicting disruptions and automatically switching between power inputs.
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The company noted that most existing tools provide post-event monitoring rather than predictive capability to prevent disruptions, limiting real-time visibility across energy systems.
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According to the firm, the platform is intended for use across sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing and data infrastructure, where uninterrupted power supply is critical.
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The Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Tobe Arize, said distributed energy resources are often fragmented, adding that the company is building a system to enable coordinated operation while maintaining flexibility and efficiency.
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The funding round was led by a European venture, Breega, with participation from Catalyst Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures and Kaleo Ventures.
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Breega stated that its investment was based on the view that managing multiple energy sources will be a defining challenge in African energy systems, while Catalyst Fund pointed to the need to manage cost, uptime and sustainability in real time.
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Energy investment across Africa has largely focused on expanding access and generation. However, many existing systems lack real-time visibility and predictive capability, contributing to inefficiencies in already deployed infrastructure.
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PowerLabs said it will use the funding to expand its platform across Nigeria’s commercial and industrial sectors, improve predictive models and deepen integrations with distributed energy systems, with plans to expand into other West African markets.