Electrify, Singapore’s first retail electricity marketplace, has raised US$30 million in funding from institutional and individual investors via its token sale, according to a company announcement.
This funding will be used to power Electrify’s expansion into priority markets outside of Singapore, including Southeast Asia, Japan, and Australia. It will also help drive company growth, recruitment, and product development.
“Bolstering this effort, the backing of strategic investors such as Jun Hasegawa, CEO of OmiseGo and Wendell Davis, one of Ethereum’s original Co-Founders, and prominent Japanese VC Global Brain, Electrify is well poised to make electrical energy more accessible, sustainable, and affordable in Asia,” the startup said.
Key drivers behind Electrify’s platform include the rise of blockchain technology and the liberalisation of Singapore’s domestic electricity market in 2018.
With market liberalisation well underway, businesses and consumers across the region will have more options to manage their energy costs, as opposed to purchasing power from their governments at regulated tariffs, it said.
“Countries across Southeast Asia are starting to liberalise their electricity markets. By aggregating retail electricity offerings on our platform with our proprietary pricing engine and blockchain solution, we bring better-informed choices at more affordable prices to the consumer,” said Julius Tan, CEO and Co-Founder of Electrify.
Electrify’s new electricity ecosystem, Marketplace 2.0, will be supported by smart contracts and enhanced by its peer-to-peer energy trading platform, Synergy, on city-wide energy grids across Asia.
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Starting with Singapore in the second half of 2018, Electrify will host retail electricity smart contracts, allowing consumers to browse and purchase electricity from a variety of energy providers.
The smart contracts on Electrify’s platform will be enabled by a digital wallet that facilitates transactions such as bill payments and platform service fees.