Just to clarify, the terms are a SAFE with a 15M cap, and no discount? If so, is there a reason why there's no discount? In the suboptimal case where a future raise happens below or at 15M, investors that joined earlier aren't rewarded for taking on more risk than the future i...

Thank you Amit! As one of the most successful companies in our batch, we have already closed $1,180,000.00 as of today from venture capital without a discount. I believe the driving market factor for this rate is that the average YC Series A so far this year has been at a $74m pre-money valuation (yes, just 12-18 months after seed!). It would be great to have you onboard!

Here’s kind of a “gut check” question, if it’s possible to accurately predict fluctuations in electricity prices, why hasn’t it been done yet? Various Quantitative Finance methods have existed for decades now, and the “ML boom” (in industry at least) has been going on since at...

Electricity markets are undergoing rapid transformation at the moment. Intermittent renewables are leading to more extreme price fluctuation, but as we saw in Texas even more frequent extreme climate events are impacting the reliability of our energy infrastructure. In response, we are positioned to manage the $5b/per year of grid-scale storage that is coming online - this summer alone Texas battery infrastructure is expected to increase from 200 MW to 1700 MW.

The pitch deck is really incomplete. I assume you have omitted many of the slides from your standard deck, but I don't understand why you do that.

Most of our fundraising has been driven by detailed conversations, and this deck was used as follow up to highlight key points. We're happy to dive deeper if you have specific questions!

You cite a 25% revenue increase over traditional forecasting solutions, but how does this compare with other high-tech / non-traditional forecasting solutions, such as Tesla's Opticaster? https://www.tesla.com/support/opticaster

The 25% revenue increase we cite is a benchmark run by a third party which used us as an input into one of the Tesla type management systems.

How do you plan to make money, or more precisely what is the value proposition to the customer? Predicting the price is one thing, but what does that allow the energy companies to do? Adjust Supply? Purchase fuel early? Adjust rates? Etc...?

Price forecasting allows responsive assets to optimize when they operate. A hydro generation facility (dam hydro, pumped storage, etc) will have a finite amount of water to discharge per day. Asset managers must determine the points in time where electricity price is the highest so that they can maximize their value to the grid (and keep less clean, more expensive reserves offline). See https://inbalanceresearch.com/news/hydro for more detail

inBalance (YC W21)

Real-time forecasts of electricity price to support renewables, ev charging

inbalanceresearch.com

Cambridge, MA

Technology Energy

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Fares and Todd interviewed inBalance (YC W21) on July 9, 2021. Play Video

Fares Ksebati

CEO of MySwimPro

Todd Folk

Founder/CEO of AppApp 10+ years in the hospitality industry. Serial Entrepreneur, Tobacconist, & Rum aficionado.

Strengths

says, "This is a growing market with big clients. Utility companies can be a tough market to break into, but once you're in, there is a lot of potential. Hydropower isn't going anywhere, so this is a ripe opportunity to capitalize on. When you consider a 25% increase in revenue potential, that's going to open doors."

says, "inBalance is targeting a sizable yet niche market which should make growth much easier over time. Energy efficiency is also an area of growing concern."

Advice

says, "I'd like to see the scale of the opportunity financially broken out just a bit more. The unit economics, sales cycle, and what needs to go right (wrong) to see the future forecasts play out as expected. Best of luck!"

says, "I would recommend providing more insight to each slide in your pitch - the more info we as investors have, the better we can make informed decisions - so talk about each one in more depth."

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LEAD INVESTOR

Invested $1,000 this round

inBalance's work is essential to a sustainable future. As a principle at a leading energy efficiency organization, I recognize that there has been a longstanding gap in the energy industry and it has taken the sort of innovation that these brilliant minds have taken on as their shared vision. Together they have already reduced Carbon emission and their solution will ensure the sustainability of the energy industry for future generations. I believe that in as few as 10 years from now they could manage more renewable assets than any other company on the planet.

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inBalance (YC W21)

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