Why We Invested in Axle Energy

Energize Capital is proud to lead the $25 million Series A investment in Axle Energy, a London-based energy flexibility platform that turns EV chargers, batteries, and heat pumps into grid-balancing capacity. Existing investors Accel Partners, Picus Capital, and Eka Ventures also joined the round. Energize Partner Tyler Lancaster joins the Axle board, and Agustina Soriano-Sergi joins as a board observer.

A Volatile Global Ecosystem

Today's global power systems are undergoing a period of profound transformation. The electrification of heat and transport, coupled with the AI-driven data center buildout and spread of more renewable energy generation, has forced grid infrastructure to adapt to both load growth and less predictable generation. To balance the grid and meet demand, utilities and grid operators are often forced to look to expensive, polluting strategies: capex-heavy infrastructure buildouts, gas-fired peaker plants, or renewable curtailment.

This is particularly challenging in the UK, where wholesale energy prices are already double U.S. rates, and new infrastructure projects are time-intensive and costly for utilities and consumers alike. March's closing of the Strait of Hormuz added to the system's stress, where the disruption of oil and gas forced up global energy prices and doubled UK wholesale gas prices within days of the conflict.

Fortunately, the UK is already making great strides toward independence from fossil fuels. Last year, renewables generated a record 52.5% of UK electricity, and homeowners and drivers increasingly went electric: consumers registered 473,000 new electric cars and installed more than 40,000 home batteries and over 60,000 heat pumps.

If managed correctly, these devices can help to insulate the country from international price swings and lower capex requirements. Coordinating these devices creates new capacity to respond to grid events without requiring expensive infrastructure buildouts or backup generation. For example, if EV charge load is distributed among off-peak hours, utilities can reduce the amount of infrastructure needed to handle high-load events. But doing this is challenging: asset owners, both the OEMs and the homeowners, would need to have full visibility of power forecasts and granular control of their assets to participate safely in energy markets.

Introducing Axle

Enter Axle Energy, a UK-based virtual power plant (VPP) platform that orchestrates distributed energy resources (DERs) like EVs and heat pumps to support a cleaner, more flexible energy system. Founded in 2023 by Karl Bach and Archy de Berker, Axle enables OEMs, utilities, and fleet operators to participate in energy markets, thereby responding to grid needs, balancing power peaks, replacing fossil fuels, and helping to decouple power prices from international volatility.

Axle handles the full value chain of energy market participation: connecting assets, forecasting availability, aggregating devices, bidding into electricity markets, dispatching assets, and settling payments. This lets Axle's customers, from EV charging companies to battery manufacturers to fleet operators, unlock new revenue streams and pass cost benefits to consumers without building additional software. Today, the company coordinates more than 300,000 connected assets, representing over 2 GW of flexible capacity-equivalent to a large nuclear reactor. Through Axle-enabled programs, participating consumers earn roughly £10 a month on average, collectively earning millions of pounds last year.

As investors at the intersection of software and electrification, we have long held conviction in virtual power plants as a smarter way to affordably and sustainably increase grid capacity. Axle's technology captures that opportunity, and its team has already proven the ability to achieve commercial scale. This success in the UK establishes a path for other economies that, like the U.S., are facing immense load growth from data centers, electrification, and manufacturing.

The Team

Karl Bach (CEO) and Archy de Berker (CTO) founded Axle in 2023 after meeting through London's energy ecosystem. Bach first-hand how energy retailers are exposed to volatile power markets; de Berker, based in Bristol, previously led product and analytics at Carbon Chain. Together they set out to turn the millions of distributed devices now connecting to the grid into a coordinated, dispatchable source of flexible capacity.

With this funding, Axle will scale its platform across the UK and expand into new European markets, connecting more distributed assets and deepening partnerships with OEMs, utilities, and fleet operators. For more information or to explore job openings, see their website: https://www.axle.energy