The UK tech industry is booming, with startups raising more than £29bn in 2021. But some sectors are booming more than others. Recent data shows that UK energy tech startups are struggling to scale compared to other areas, such as fintech and AI. There are 950 energy tech companies in the UK and yet 47.6% of them are "stuck" at the seed investment stage, according to a report by entrepreneur network Tech Nation. Crucially, the'Emerging Energy Tech Report' found that for every UK energy tech startup at a seed or early growth stage, just 0.2 make it to a late-stage company.

Growing up in a middle-class family in Kolkata and Midnapore in West Bengal, India, Dr Sayonsom Chanda was no stranger to strong winds and relentless rain knocking down electricity for hours, days, and even weeks. He and his family lived in East Midnapur through the horror of the 1999 Odisha cyclone and Sidr cyclone in 2007. It was one of the core reasons for him to start Sync Energy in 2017. The startup builds artificial intelligence (AI) tools that simplify emergency and disaster response planning for electric power distribution companies. The platform helps electric utilities reduce customer downtimes and be better informed about the impact of a disaster before it actually strikes. This, in-turn, will help electric power companies to decrease costs associated with emergency-related power outages.

Verv, the Google-mentored energy tech startup behind the smart energy hub and green electricity sharing platform, recently announced that it has raised over £6.5 million (€7.5 million) in its Series A round led by environmental fund Earthworm. Earthworm has invested £5 million in Verv's pioneering IoT and renewable energy trading technology that could drive down household electricity bills and carbon emissions by over 20%. Other investors in the round include European innovation engine for sustainable energy, InnoEnergy, Crowdcube and international energy and services company, Centrica. Earthworm's investment is an important backing of Verv's vision to make millions of homes more green with a global network of smart hubs that offer a real-time breakdown of key appliance use and spend, as well as enable the trading of domestic renewable energy between communities. At Earthworm we are driven by sustainability and Verv represents a brilliant example of'enabling' technology.