Tem Raises $75M to AI-Powered Energy Markets

By Ethan Brooks, Senior Technology Journalist VFutureMedia.com February 11, 2026

Late last night in London—early morning here as I type this—I watched the first light hit the Thames while scrolling through alerts about yet another massive funding round. This one hit different. Tem, a startup quietly building what they’re calling the “Stripe of energy,” just closed a $75 million Series B in an oversubscribed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The round included heavy hitters like Atomico, Hitachi Ventures, Allianz, AlbionVC, Schroders Capital, Revent, and Voyager Ventures. Total funding now sits at $94 million, and sources tell me the valuation cleared $300 million post-money.

I’ve been following energy tech for years, back when “smart grid” was mostly buzz and pilot projects that never scaled. What Tem is doing feels like the next logical leap: using AI to make electricity markets faster, fairer, and dramatically cheaper for businesses. In a world where AI data centers are gobbling power like there’s no tomorrow—driving prices up and grids to the brink—this kind of innovation isn’t nice-to-have. It’s essential.

Let me walk you through why this matters, how Tem actually works, where it fits in the exploding green tech + AI intersection, and what the road ahead looks like in February 2026.

The Problem Tem Is Solving (And Why It’s Urgent)

Electricity markets are stuck in the 20th century. Prices fluctuate wildly by the minute, yet most businesses still buy power through long-term contracts or basic tariffs that ignore real-time dynamics. Add surging demand from AI training clusters, electric vehicles, and industrial electrification, and the old system starts cracking.

Data centers alone are forecasted to push global electricity demand up nearly 300% by 2035 in some scenarios. Grids strain under peak loads, renewable intermittency creates price spikes, and companies pay premiums for reliability they don’t always need.

Tem steps in with an AI-native platform that acts like a super-intelligent broker. It automates transactions in real-time wholesale markets, optimizes when and how much power to buy, shifts usage to cheap periods, and even participates in demand-response programs. Early customers report cutting energy bills by 20-30% while maintaining uptime—numbers that get CFOs’ attention fast.

Think of it this way: Stripe made payments invisible and instant for e-commerce. Tem aims to do the same for electricity procurement. No more spreadsheets, no more manual hedging—just smart, automated decisions that save money and stabilize the grid.

How the Technology Actually Works

At the core is a proprietary AI engine trained on vast datasets: historical prices, weather patterns, grid congestion signals, renewable generation forecasts, and customer load profiles. The system runs continuous simulations to predict short-term price movements (minutes to hours ahead) with high accuracy.

Key capabilities I’ve seen in demos and heard from pilot users:

• Real-Time Bidding & Trading: Automatically places bids in intraday and balancing markets across Europe (and expanding).
• Load Shifting & Flexibility: Identifies opportunities to move non-critical usage (cooling, charging, manufacturing batches) to low-price windows.
• Risk Management: Hedging strategies that balance cost savings against volatility exposure.
• Sustainability Layer: Prioritizes renewable-matched power when economically viable, helping companies hit ESG targets without paying green premiums.
• API-First Integration: Plugs into existing energy management systems, BMS, or even directly into EV fleets and battery storage.

Privacy and security are non-negotiable—enterprise-grade encryption, on-prem options for sensitive users, and no resale of usage data.

The secret sauce? Tem’s models aren’t just predictive; they’re prescriptive and adaptive. They learn from each customer’s unique consumption patterns and from grid-level events in real time. Early results show the AI outperforming human traders in simulated backtests by double-digit percentages.

The Funding Round Breakdown

• Amount: $75 million Series B (oversubscribed).
• Lead: Lightspeed Venture Partners (Paul Murphy joining the board).
• Participants: AlbionVC, Allianz, Atomico, Hitachi Ventures, Revent, Schroders Capital, Voyager Ventures.
• Valuation: >$300 million post-money (per sources).
• Use of Funds: Geographic expansion (Australia and U.S. Texas first), team growth (especially engineering and energy-market experts), deeper R&D into multi-market optimization and advanced forecasting.

This round comes just months after Tem crossed 2,600+ commercial & industrial customers, mostly in the UK and Nordics, with aggregate savings already in the tens of millions of pounds. Momentum is real—energy isn’t waiting for perfect conditions; it’s moving now.

Positioning in the AI + Green Tech Landscape

Tem sits at the sweet spot where two massive trends collide: AI infrastructure boom and energy transition acceleration.

Competitors exist—AutoGrid, Enel X, Stem, Drift—but most focus on either hardware (batteries, demand response) or legacy software. Tem’s pure-software, AI-first approach gives it speed and scalability advantages. No need to install boxes; just connect APIs and start saving.

Comparisons to Stripe are apt but incomplete. Stripe democratized payments; Tem could democratize intelligent energy procurement. In a world where Big Tech builds its own power plants and signs nuclear deals, mid-sized enterprises need tools to compete. Tem fills that gap.

Broader implications for green tech funding in 2026:

• Investors are rewarding solutions that directly address AI’s energy hunger.
• Software plays are winning over pure hardware in early rounds—faster iteration, lower capex.
• Cross-sector bets (AI + climate) attract top-tier VCs like Lightspeed and Atomico.

Challenges? Regulatory complexity varies wildly by market—U.S. states have fragmented rules, Australia is ramping fast but still nascent. Compute costs for real-time forecasting add up, though Tem mitigates with efficient models and edge processing.

Future Outlook and Predictions

Tem plans to launch in Texas (ERCOT market) and Australia this year—two of the most volatile, opportunity-rich grids on the planet. Success there could trigger rapid U.S. expansion.

I expect:

• ARR doubling or tripling in 12-18 months as enterprises chase savings amid rising rates.
• Potential partnerships with hyperscalers or utilities looking to offload demand-side management.
• More funding in 2027 if metrics hold—possibly a big Series C or even strategic acquisition by an energy giant.
• Ripple effect: More AI-native energy startups emerging as the category proves investable.

This isn’t just another SaaS story. It’s infrastructure for the AI age—quietly reshaping how we power the future.

For deeper dives into AI-energy intersections and green tech trends, check our archives: Green Tech Investments 2026 and AI Infrastructure Boom.