Sense

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Founders: Christopher Micali, Mike Phillips, Ryan Houlette
Founding: 2013
Mission: To reduce global carbon emissions by transforming the relationship between people, homes and the grid
Employees: 100 & ~50% Local
Workplace: Hybrid
Stage & Capital Raised: Series C & $157M raised
Investors: Blue Earth Capital, Bolt, TELUS Ventures, MCJ Collective, Schneider Electric, Energy Impact Partners, Prelude Ventures, and iRobot
Key Customers: National Grid
Glassdoor Rating: 3.9
Valuation (estimated): Last reported fundraise was a $105M Series C in Q2 ‘22

Sense is a growth stage software company bringing better intelligence to the edge of our electrical grid. This team is helping to decarbonize the world through better grid analytics as we march through a critical intermediary step: electrification.

Sense’s mission is to reduce global carbon emissions by transforming the relationship between people, homes and the grid. Because decarbonization begins with electrifying as many things as we possibly can. 

Founder and CEO Mike Phillips has built software companies through many cycles, including the dot com era. In the early days of AI and machine learning he founded a company called Speechworks, licensing speech recognition technology from MIT which was purchased by (what later became) Nuance Communications. He founded another company, Vlingo, which created the first successful voice assistant before Siri used by Samsung and Nokia devices. After surviving and winning a legal IP battle, Vlingo was acquired by Nuance Communications too. Mike has a chart in his office that maps the rollups over a 20+ year lifespan before their 2022 Microsoft acquisition.

His career journey is important to understand because it provided great context about the evolution of markets and technology that Mike and his early team brought to Sense. When they were ready to build something new at the intersection of machine learning, data and consumer in climate tech, they had a battle tested plan.

Electrification helps decarbonization because we can then use software to more intelligently identify areas of efficiency. As we onboard more electric vehicles, integrate more heat pumps, and stop burning stuff in our home and cars we need to see what is where.

When you get a bill from your energy provider and it shows that energy usage bar chart relative to your neighbors, it’s not very actionable. Did you know the transformer at the end of your street can only support charging 3 EVs at any given time?

Our electrical grid is the largest machine in the world, based on 100-year-old technology. It’s amazing it even works because it’s practically devoid of real time insights. When Mr. & Mrs. Smith move in next door with the 4th EV in the neighborhood and the power goes out, do you know how the utility knows? When you call them!

Estimates from Bloomberg, McKinsey and others state that $21T of investment is needed to upgrade our electrical grid in order to hit net zero emissions with capacity also needing to double by 2050 (src). This is a massive transition with software needed to help deliver the insights to guide us.

Today that all seems pretty clear. But in 2013 when Sense was first raising money it wasn’t a  consensus. They couldn’t find any local VCs to fund them even though Mike already had two prior exits! Luckily he got plugged into the rest of the climate ecosystem, secured the funds, and they were on their way.

Sense was originally a consumer-only product which gave individual households insights at the edge of the electrical grid by writing software for electric panels. In the years since their platform has evolved to embed their software directly into next-generation smart meters and provide insights between both individual households and the entire grid. They’re pushing the next generation of energy infrastructure using real time networking to make better use of data for the consumer and utilities.

We now know wind and solar are the cheapest forms of electricity but are tricky from a timing perspective. Sense is helping grids better balance electric loads and variable supply and demand. Their tooling helps facilitate better interaction using data and AI. Their consumer app helps individual households identify areas to save on their electric bill in real time and they have sensors for homes that integrate with solar power systems for more intelligent routing. 

The team plans to build global impact by getting into every home through core utility infrastructure integration. In 2024 they are focused on meter rollouts to utilities across the U.S. They are partnering with major utilities on the east coast to bring Sense’s technology and insights to over 3M consumers, with more on the horizon. Throughout the rest of 2024 they’ll continue to grow their team mostly on the technical side of the house, including AI and machine learning roles. 

Sense is proud to be a part of Boston’s growing climate community seeing big potential throughout the Boston ecosystem, aspiring to be one of the companies leading the way in the years ahead. Sense is backed by Blue Earth Capital, Bolt, TELUS Ventures, MCJ Collective, Schneider Electric, Energy Impact Partners, Prelude Ventures, and iRobot. 

Operators to Know (Locally):

My investigative powers continue to need work so apologies to the Sense team I know I missed many up & coming operators internally

Key Roles To Be Hired:

  • More roles coming soon!

If I were interviewing here are some questions I’d ask:

  • What are the most important initiatives as Sense works to integrate retail & utility use cases? 
  • How is the company progressing toward its 2024 goals?
  • What is the long term vision for the company?
  • How will Sense continue to shape its team in 2H 2024 and beyond?

We’re optimizing for readability here so to learn more about Sense you’ll have to D.Y.O.R. I’m excited to watch this team bring more consumers better insights about their energy usage. Our planet applauds your efforts. See you around town!

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