Current Group LLC, a provider of core smart grid infrastructure and software solutions, has received $13 million in venture capital funding and has reshuffled its management team, in an effort to increase its market presence in Europe and Asia and to accelerate product development.

The 10-year-old company, based in Germantown, Maryland, already has announced significant customer wins in Europe – at Iberdrola (Spain) and Electrica (Romania) – as well as partnerships with Landis+Gyr (Switzerland) , Novabase (Portugal), and Cable & Wireless (News - Alert)  (United Kingdom).

Participants in this round of funding included new investors Business Media China AG and Espírito Santo Ventures; as well as repeat backers – among them, Associated Partners, EnerTech Capital, and Goldman Sachs. These investors represent the global nature of Current's business, with funding received from China-, Europe-, and US-based partners in the form of both financial and strategic investments.

“European utility investments in smart grid, buoyed by the European Union's 2020 climate change initiative, are driving significant market demand for innovative products designed for the European grids,” said Pedro Ribeiro Santos, principal at the Portugal-based venture capital firm, Espírito Santo Ventures. “We interviewed many European utilities as part of our investment decision process, and we strongly believe that Current is well-positioned to fundamentally change how utilities approach building next-generation smart grid systems.”

“[Our recent report] estimates the cumulative European smart grid market will reach €3.1 billion [US$4.3 billion] in 2012 and increase to €6.8 billion [US$9.3 billion] in 2016 – a 120 percent increase,” said David Leeds, director of Smart Grid Research at GTM Research, based in Boston. “Companies such as Current are [in prime position] to lead in this market, given the renewed focus on analytics, sensing and intelligence.”

Leading Current Group during its next phase of growth will be new President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Willie, who previously served as the company's chief product officer (CPO), a position in which he was directly responsible for defining and developing Current’s growing product suite; as well as for overseeing the company’s expansion into global markets. Willie currently serves as the vice chairman of the PRIME (Power Line Intelligent Metering Evolution) Alliance, an industrial alliance focused on defining, implementing, and deploying a multi-vendor, open, and fully interoperable power-line carrier (PLC)-based standard.

“The growth of Current’s business through our smart metering, grid reliability, and substation communications products in the European and Asia/Pacific markets, coupled with [recognition we have received] through new funding of our expanded business opportunities is extremely exciting for our organization,” said Willie.

“Current recognized early on that the mesh-wireless approach to advanced metering often used in the United States was not preferred or being widely adopted by utilities in Europe and Asia,” Willie explained. “We leveraged our expertise in grid communications and software systems to gain a leadership position in the European deployments of PLC-based smart metering infrastructure being installed now.”

“Additionally, utilities worldwide are looking beyond smart metering and into core infrastructure investments in distribution grid automation and supervision,” Willie noted. “Our proven sensing and event detection capabilities, which are actively monitoring over 35,000 distribution transformers worldwide, provide for real-time event notification and alarming that can significantly enhance the capabilities of legacy systems like SCADA, or provide for immediate benefits to new distribution management systems or grid optimization systems (Volt/VAR).”

In addition to new leadership at the CEO position, Current has named John Du as its new chief financial officer. Du previously served as the CFO of Ocular Inc., a leading developer of LCD display screen systems, where he oversaw financial and manufacturing strategies for the business. Ocular had significant business and manufacturing operations in China and more than 1,000 employees worldwide. Prior to Ocular, Du served as director of finance for Siemens' (News - Alert) Broadband Solutions division.

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