August - 2008 issue > VC Chakra

By si Team

The Maryland based utility metering company, Eka Systems, has secured $18.5 million in the fourth round of funding led by Flybridge Capital Partners. Returning investors included RockPort Capital Partners, The Westly Group, and Metropolitan Investments.

The eight-year-old company started by Prakash Chakravarthi, its President and CEO, aims to forge a place as a major networker of wireless ‘smart meters’ among its competitors - Tantalus, Trilliant Networks, and Silver Spring Networks.

Eka’s scalable smart networking technology allows utilities to monitor and analyze their energy consumption on a near real-time basis. It also helps them cut down on costs by preventing leaks and detecting outages. Its sub-metering systems can be installed in residential and commercial buildings to let tenants and landlords monitor electricity, gas, and water use. Landlords can easily bill individual tenants according to usage and can track down leaks and faulty equipment. These applications are intended to help customers spend less on energy by making their systems more efficient.

“The global energy market is in excess of $100 billion,” says Chakravarthi. The company has seen its business grow to $40 million over eight years, and has discovered the potential market with its networks already in place and operating in Europe, South America, North America, and Asia.

“Currently the company, with its 63 employees, is in a hiring mode and has aggressive plans on adding even more employees over the next few years. Our corporate headquarters office space was recently expanded by 50 percent to accommodate the growth plan,” says Chakravarthi.

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