How Critical Loop uses microgrids to unlock industrial load. Led by a former SpaceX engineer, the startup just raised a $26 million Series A for more scalable storage-based microgrids. April 13, 2026 Photo credit: Critical Loop Before starting to work in the energy industry, Balachandar Ramamurthy was putting astronauts into space. As the chief engineer responsible for flight safety at SpaceX, he took on a "multidisciplinary coordination problem" - one not unlike what the energy industry faces today, turning distributed resources into cohesive grid assets. That's why in 2023, he became the co-founder and CEO of Critical Loop, a startup that builds modular microgrids for industrial facilities. "You can see the parallels in how we think about designing and operating these microgrid systems," he told Latitude Media. "If you think about spacecrafts, you launch them, and you can't go repair them easily. In the same way, distributed energy assets need to be maintainable [as easily] as possible to be economical." Armed with this principle, Critical Loop announced today that it has raised a $26 million Series A funding round, including equity and equipment financing, bringing its total capital raised to $49 million. The round was led by Conifer Infrastructure Partners and Hanover Technology Investment Management, with participation from Climate Capital and Better Ventures, among others. The company develops energy storage-based microgrids centered on a proprietary "combiner": a piece of equipment that integrates diverse power sources. This technology enables the microgrid to interface with various battery types, grid connections, and on-site generation sources without requiring custom technical adaptations for each new component. The idea is to make microgrids hardware-agnostic, and as easy to install as plugging them in. "We've built a system that allows us to standardize how you install [microgrids] into industrial facilities, and scale them relatively rapidly, because it's an extensible system where you can add additional batteries," Ramamurthy said. Once that's done, Critical Loop orchestrates the microgrid remotely via software, and coordinates with the utility to flex the facility's load in real time as needed. LATITUDE STUDIOS Elevate your brand with Latitude studios. Work with Latitude's expert team of storytellers, producers, and marketers to create impactful campaigns that generate leads and enhance your brand's thought leadership. Addressing speed-to-power. With this approach Critical Loop aims to solve the speed-to-power challenge that is becoming core to the U.S. energy system, as a surge in artificial intelligence data centers strains an already-congested grid. While it's the data centers stuck in long interconnection queues that get the most attention, the bottleneck can also stall other industrial facilities that face load rejection letters from utilities when trying to expand their operations. For example, Critical Loop partnered with TeraWatt Infrastructure, a fleet-charging hub operator that was denied a request for 10 MW for two sites it needed to expand; the utility said it wouldn't be able to provide the power for five years unless the facility ensured load flexibility. On behalf of the customer, Critical Loop engaged the utility and noted that for the vast majority of the year, the 10 MW would be fully available. Capacity would be limited only during specific windows, and even then, the shortfall was just one to two megawatts. Critical Loop demonstrated that it could bridge that need with its microgrids. TeraWatt was ultimately able to bypass the years-long wait. "There's a lot of interest in building super off-grid, gigantic power plants," Ramamurthy said. "But most of the large loads are going to have some sort of grid tie, and this strategy allows you to have fewer batteries and fewer systems to solve the problem." Critical Loop offers its microgrids through both energy-as-a-service agreements, where it retains ownership of the assets, and long-term service agreements, where the customer purchases the equipment while Critical Loop provides ongoing remote orchestration and operation. The company is targeting the industrial midmarket, which includes sectors like industrial and commercial real estate, where there's a need for energy storage systems ranging from five to 100 megawatt-hours. Despite still being early-stage, Critical Loop already manages four MWh of permanent storage at San Diego International Airport, alongside a movable fleet of approximately 30 MWh used for critical needs such as emergency utility outages. As a technology-agnostic provider, the company utilizes batteries sourced from six different manufacturers; the individual units range from 250 kilowatts to two MW. "We've deployed about 50 MWh worth of microgrids in the last year alone," said Ramamurthy. "This year, we are well on our way to deploying at least 50 MWh, with the goal of reaching 100 MWh." The latest fundraise will support this expansion, as well as research and development activities, and "making sure the production systems and supply chain work," he said. * Bianca Giacobone Bianca Giacobone is a contributing reporter at Latitude Media. She is a freelance business reporter and fact-checker covering the clean energy transition, based in Italy. Related Reading Stay ahead of energy's next frontier. Subscribe for free:

Critical Loop, a microgrid and energy solutions startup founded in 2023, has filed to raise $37.4 million in new funding, according to documents submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company develops rapidly-deployable microgrids combined with predictive software to make power more accessible and efficient. Critical Loop serves manufacturers, transportation hubs, data centres and critical infrastructure, helping customers operate at full capacity whilst reducing energy costs. The filing was made under Regulation D, which allows companies to raise capital without full securities registration. Companies must file within 15 days after the first investor commits to the offering. Critical Loop is led by chief executive officer Balachandar Ramamurthy. The company's mission centres on fixing the electric grid through scalable energy solutions.