Companion.energy Raises $8.5M to Revolutionize Energy Management

Jan de Vries · 2026-06-08

A Ghent-based startup is helping large companies take control of their energy costs in real time. Companion.energy just closed an $8.5 million Seed round (converted from €7.8 million) to expand its AI-powered platform across Europe, starting with Germany and Spain. The funding was led by Realyze Ventures (Germany) and Pi Labs (United Kingdom), with participation from Asterion Ventures (France) and existing investors. The company plans to use the capital to deepen its multi-asset, multi-market optimization capabilities. ### Why This Matters Now Enterprise energy management is undergoing a massive shift. Dhruv Gupta, Principal at Pi Labs, explains: "Enterprise energy management is moving from static procurement and reporting toward 24/7 real-time optimization. Large enterprises spending tens of millions annually on energy still rely heavily on spreadsheets, dashboards and manual workflows. Companion has built a deeply technical AI platform that fundamentally changes software from a recommendation engine to a system of execution. This is what makes this category so important." Think about it: most big companies still manage their energy the same way they did a decade ago. They use static contracts, quarterly reviews, and spreadsheets. But energy markets have changed completely. Prices that once moved seasonally now fluctuate in real time. ### The Co-Founders' Vision Founded in 2022 by Thomas Vyncke and Jonas Verstraeten, Companion.energy helps large industrial and commercial enterprises turn energy from a risk into a competitive advantage. The company's software platform gives complete transparency on energy economics and runs AI-driven optimization workflows that improve contract mix and steer assets in real time. According to Thomas Vyncke: "European energy markets are undergoing a structural shift. As penetration of renewables increases and industrial demand becomes more electrified, electricity markets are becoming significantly more volatile and operationally complex. Energy prices that once moved seasonally now fluctuate in real time. At the same time, enterprises are deploying growing fleets of batteries, solar installations, EV charging infrastructure and electrified industrial systems. Most companies still manage this environment through fragmented tooling, spreadsheets and static procurement processes but they need a system that runs and optimises energy operations continuously." Jonas Verstraeten adds: "We started Companion because we believed the energy transition would force every large industrial enterprise to manage energy actively, and that they would not be able to do that with spreadsheets and quarterly check-ins. The work of the next decade is to give those teams software that can keep up. This round lets us bring that software to many more enterprises, and help them turn their energy from a competitiveness risk into a competitive advantage." ### What the Platform Does The platform connects energy contracts, operational systems, and distributed assets into a single optimization system. It continuously forecasts demand, models market exposure, and automates energy decisions in real time. Enterprises use it to: - Optimize procurement decisions dynamically - Steer assets like batteries and solar installations in real time - Improve the economics of electrification at scale Clients benefit from autonomous decision-making that maximizes energy assets in real time, reducing energy costs by 10–30%. The company says its platform already supports more than 200 MW of distributed energy assets, including solar PV, wind, batteries, e-boilers, and EV charging infrastructure. ### Impressive Traction Companion.energy serves more than 30 enterprise customers across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Its client list includes heavyweights like TotalEnergies, KPN, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Interparking, and Proximus Group. These customers span manufacturers, logistics operators, telecom operators, EV charging operators, and other large energy consumers. Over the past year, the company expanded its customer base and revenue ten times, exceeding $1.1 million in annual recurring revenue (converted from €1 million). It now manages more than 2 TWh of annual energy consumption and production across customer portfolios, representing approximately $550 million in annual energy spend and revenue. ### The Bottom Line Energy management is no longer a back-office function. For large enterprises spending tens of millions annually on energy, real-time optimization isn't just nice to have—it's becoming essential. Companion.energy is positioning itself as the platform that can help companies turn energy from a cost center into a strategic advantage. With this new funding, they're ready to scale that vision across Europe.