FirstFuel Software

FirstFuel Software, established in 2011 by founders Swapnil Shah and Ken Kolkebeck, operated as an energy intelligence company from its headquarters in Lexington, Massachusetts. The firm specialized in providing a cloud-based customer intelligence platform for energy providers, analyzing data from millions of business customer meters to offer a comprehensive understanding of this key segment.

The company's core business involved leveraging data science, building science, and software to translate complex energy data into actionable insights for utility companies. Its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform applied proprietary analytics to meter and business data, which enabled energy providers to deliver personalized insights to their commercial customers. This remote analysis of building energy performance offered a scalable alternative to costly on-site assessments. By providing these detailed customer profiles, FirstFuel empowered utilities to enhance customer engagement, optimize energy efficiency programs, and increase revenue through upselling additional services. The business model was primarily a subscription-based service for its utility clients, including major providers like E.ON, Southern California Edison, and Pacific Gas and Electric.

FirstFuel's platform offered building-specific performance benchmarks and custom recommendations, helping clients reduce service costs and meet sales goals for efficiency programs. The technology could remotely perform detailed energy audits using only smart meter data and a building's address, a significant departure from the labor-intensive in-person audits common in the industry. After raising approximately $43.9 million in funding over several rounds from investors such as Battery Ventures, RockPort Capital, and Next World Capital, FirstFuel was acquired by Tendril. In July 2019, a merger between Tendril and Simple Energy, which included the acquisitions of FirstFuel and others, led to the formation of Uplight, creating a comprehensive provider of customer-centric technology solutions for the energy ecosystem. Keywords: energy intelligence, utility analytics, SaaS, customer engagement, building energy, energy efficiency, data analytics, demand side management, commercial energy, cleantech