Pylon, the Egyptian infrastructure management platform that is revolutionizing energy and water providers in emerging economies, has raised $19 million in seed capital.
The seed round for the profitable firm — which will grow by 3.5x in 2021 — was led by US technology startup accelerator Y Combinator and included a diverse group of investors from North America and MEA.
Endure Capital led this round of fundraising, which included both stock and debt, and was backed by CDC, the UK government’s development finance institution. Cathexis Ventures, Khawarizmi Ventures, Loftyinc Ventures, and a number of prominent angel investors also participated.
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The proceeds will be used to accelerate Pylon’s growth by expanding into additional emerging countries (South-East Asia, Africa, and Latin America), as well as advancing engineering and product development. The startup has already partnered with various companies across two continents to implement over one million endpoints of Pylon’s smart grid technology across 15 distribution companies. Pylon’s goal is to reach three million smart metering points by 2023, which would represent a fourfold year-over-year increase.
Pylon does not charge utilities for its gear up front, but its business model, Smart Metering as a Service (SMaaS), makes it simple for cash-strapped utilities to adopt its solution at scale. Pylon can help utility companies raise their top line by up to 40% simply by signing up.
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Pylon democratizes smart grid technology, enabling energy and water distribution firms in emerging economies to recover up to $400 billion in lost and uncollected income. Pylon’s technology leverages data and artificial intelligence to maximize revenue collection, minimize losses, and leave a smaller environmental footprint.
Pylon is reclaiming the earth, one metering point at a time, by demonstrating how smart electrical grids can cut utilities’ carbon emissions by 25%. Another of Pylon’s objectives is to reduce total CO2 emissions by 1 gigaton by 2035. Water losses in emerging markets exceed 45 million cubic meters per day as well. Pylon has the ability to lower this by up to 22%, providing enough water to supply over 40 million people.
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Pylon’s co-founder and CEO, Ahmed Ashour, stated: “We are overjoyed that our solution has garnered such increased interest and praise from a diverse group of worldwide investors. Our impact-driven vision of developing technology to improve resource management, eliminate inefficiencies, and alleviate pain points in the utilities sector sparked a response from many.” Our plug-and-play technology and flexible pricing structures enable utilities to reap the full benefits of smart grids simply by partnering with us — potentially increasing aggregate income by up to 40%. With a $22 billion market opportunity, we provide an enticing model for investors looking for a fast-growing, successful firm that, most importantly, contributes significantly to planet preservation. The ultimate objective of Pylon is to help humanity, our clients, and stakeholders.
“Pylon is looking forward to an exciting year in 2022 as we enter our next phase of growth, which will see us expand into Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Additionally, we will seek expanded loan capacity to expedite the availability of infrastructure solutions to utilities operating in fragile economic situations.”
Tarek Fahim, general partner and founder of Endure Capital, added: “We are excited to assist Pylon’s outstanding team as they develop a unique software-centric solution to enable utility companies in emerging areas to build more sustainable and intelligent infrastructure. As one of the highest-ever valuations for a seed-stage firm in the Middle East and Africa, we are ecstatic to be at the front of good change in the area.” We believe that a multibillion-dollar market opportunity exists and that Pylon’s frictionless approach offers a compelling option for utility businesses looking to become more efficient, sustainable, and digitally driven. Most importantly, we believe that Pylon will have a positive environmental impact, assist our local communities, and generate long-term economic value for our own stakeholders.”
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Ahmed Medhat, Pylon’s Board Advisor (and Meta’s Principal Research Scientist), commented: “I was immediately intrigued when Ahmed Ashour and co-founder Omar Radi showed me through what they had constructed. The two have taken a bold and inventive approach to resolving efficiency issues with antiquated utility distribution networks in emerging nations, and I’m blown away by the financial traction they’ve showed in just a few months since launching their MVP.” By focusing their research and development efforts and overall product ethos on approaches that cater to the unique market dynamics of emerging market utilities, Pylon has developed their own SMaaS model and been able to upend large international players whose off-the-shelf utility management solutions do not meet the needs of emerging market utility companies.”
Pylon was founded in 2017 by Ahmed Ashour and Omar Mohamed Radi.
Pylon platform Pylon platform
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh