Derapi Raises $7M In Seed Funding Led By Earthshot Ventures

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How much did Derapi raise in Seed funding?

Derapi‘s latest funding round is a $7 million Seed investment led by Earthshot Ventures. This brings Derapi’s total funding to $9.7 million, building on an earlier $2.7 million round in 2022. The investment highlights growing interest in software solutions for integrating solar, batteries, EVs, and other devices to support strained power grids.

What is Derapi focused on?

Derapi, a San Francisco-based software company specializing in distributed energy resource (DER) integration, secured $7 million in its latest Seed round. This funding aims to address the challenges of connecting fragmented energy devices like solar panels, batteries, EV chargers, and smart appliances to grid systems and virtual power plants (VPPs). With electricity demand rising and grid reliability under pressure, solutions like Derapi’s universal API are seen as key to unlocking DER flexibility.

Who led Derapi’s seed round?

The round was led by Earthshot Ventures, an early stage firm investing in climate tech innovations. Participants include Tuesday Capital, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, WYVC, Breakthrough Venture Capital, WovenEarth Ventures, Radicle Impact, and Raisewell Ventures, along with angels from E8 Angels, GreenSky Capital, and Aurora Venture Investments. These join existing investors like UNION, Ubiquity Ventures, and M1C, reflecting strong support from sustainability oriented backers.

The capital will support hiring to grow Derapi’s team and enhance its platform for nationwide device coordination. This enables utilities, VPP operators, and energy platforms to scale programs more efficiently, reducing integration costs and time. Founded by industry veterans, Derapi positions itself as a foundational layer for a more resilient, software defined grid.

Derapi, a San Francisco-headquartered software provider in the distributed energy sector, has recently completed a $7 million Seed funding round, marking a significant milestone in its efforts to streamline integrations for distributed energy resources (DERs). This investment underscores the increasing urgency for scalable solutions amid rising global electricity demand and grid instability. Led by Earthshot Ventures, a venture firm specializing in early stage climate technologies, the round attracted a diverse group of investors aligned with sustainability and energy innovation goals. Participants included Tuesday Capital, known for seed stage tech investments; Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, focusing on environmentally impactful ventures; WYVC, a fund supporting clean energy initiatives; Breakthrough Venture Capital, which backs breakthrough technologies; WovenEarth Ventures, emphasizing regenerative systems; Radicle Impact, an impact investor in climate and food systems; and Raisewell Ventures, targeting wellness and sustainability. Additionally, notable angel investors from networks like E8 Angels (a clean tech angel group), GreenSky Capital (sustainable infrastructure focused), and Aurora Venture Investments contributed, bolstering the round’s emphasis on grid resilience. These new backers join Derapi’s existing investors, including UNION (a climate focused fund), Ubiquity Ventures (specializing in frontier tech), and M1C (investing in energy independence and industrial resilience), creating a robust network of support for the company’s growth.

This latest infusion brings Derapi’s total funding to $9.7 million, following an initial $2.7 million Seed round in September 2022 and participation in accelerators in October and November 2025. The company’s funding trajectory reflects a deliberate scaling strategy, starting with early validation through pre seed like investments and accelerators before this larger Seed commitment. No public valuation details were disclosed for the recent round, but the investment size and investor caliber suggest confidence in Derapi’s market potential, particularly as DER adoption accelerates. For context, the distributed energy market is projected to grow substantially, driven by policies like the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and global net zero commitments, with DERs expected to contribute significantly to grid flexibility by 2030.

Founded in 2022 by Thomas Lee (Founder and President) and Stina Brock (CEO), Derapi draws on deep industry expertise from its leadership team, who hail from prominent energy companies such as EnergyHub, Enphase, AutoGrid, and Proterra. This background informs the company’s mission to serve as the “foundational connectivity layer” for the distributed energy future. At its core, Derapi offers a universal API that simplifies the integration of DERs (including solar systems, energy storage batteries, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, HVAC systems, water heaters, induction stoves, and other smart appliances) into broader energy ecosystems. By providing a single, trusted integration point for secure data access, device control, and user authorization, Derapi eliminates the need for bespoke, time consuming integrations that often take months per device manufacturer. This standardization addresses a critical pain point in the sector: while DER deployments are surging (with millions of devices installed annually in the U.S. alone), their participation in grid services and VPPs remains limited due to fragmentation and engineering overhead.

In practical terms, Derapi’s platform enables utilities, grid operators, VPP providers, energy management firms, and software developers to onboard new devices rapidly, reducing development costs and maintenance burdens. For instance, customers like Uplight, a utility software provider, have reported transformative improvements in onboarding battery partners, allowing greater focus on innovation rather than integration logistics. This capability is particularly timely as grids face mounting pressures from extreme weather, electrification trends (e.g., EV adoption), and renewable intermittency. By coordinating DERs at scale, Derapi facilitates demand response programs, peak load shifting, and ancillary services, ultimately enhancing grid resilience, affordability, and decarbonization efforts.

The $7 million will primarily fuel team expansion, from its current 11 employees to a larger engineering and operations group, and accelerate platform adoption. Plans include supporting the connection of millions of smart devices nationwide, enabling new product development at the energy software grid intersection. This could involve advanced features like real time optimization algorithms or AI driven predictive controls, further embedding Derapi in mission critical energy programs. The funding also positions Derapi to capitalize on emerging opportunities, such as utility mandates for DER aggregation and wholesale market participation, where seamless interoperability is essential.

To illustrate Derapi’s progress and positioning, consider the following funding history table, which outlines key rounds and their contexts:

This table highlights a steady escalation in funding scale, aligned with Derapi’s maturation from concept to revenue generating entity.

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Broader market dynamics amplify the significance of this round. The global DER market, encompassing solar, storage, and EVs, is expanding rapidly, with installations projected to reach hundreds of gigawatts by the end of the decade. However, integration barriers (such as incompatible APIs, security concerns, and regulatory hurdles) have historically capped utilization rates. Derapi’s approach mirrors successful models in other sectors, like fintech’s Plaid for banking integrations or Twilio for communications, by abstracting complexity and fostering an ecosystem of partners. Competitors in the space include platforms like AutoGrid (now part of Uplight) or EnergyHub, but Derapi differentiates through its manufacturer sanctioned, device agnostic API, which prioritizes trust and scalability.

Investor enthusiasm, as voiced by Earthshot’s Ramsay Siegal, centers on Derapi’s role in transforming “fragmented devices into coordinated, grid scale infrastructure.” This aligns with broader trends: venture funding in climate tech reached record levels in 2025, with energy software attracting billions due to its high leverage in decarbonization. For Derapi, the implications are multifaceted, faster customer acquisition (e.g., utilities like those partnered with Uplight), potential for strategic alliances with device makers (solar/storage, EVs, appliances), and contributions to policy goals like grid modernization under frameworks such as FERC Order 2222 in the U.S., which mandates DER market access.

Looking ahead, Derapi’s trajectory could involve international expansion, given the global nature of energy transitions, or deeper integrations with AI for predictive energy management. While challenges like data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR equivalents in energy) and competition from in-house utility solutions persist, the funding provides a strong runway to establish market leadership. Ultimately, by making DERs “easier to connect, easier to trust, and easier to scale,” as CEO Stina Brock describes, Derapi is poised to play a pivotal role in building a more flexible, resilient energy system.

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