Implementation Specialist

Texture raises $12.5M to tackle the operational complexity of the modern grid. Thursday, May 21, 2026 VoLo Earth and Equal Ventures co-lead Series A in grid technology firm building an "operating system" to help utilities consolidate data and maximize value across operations - from data center load to renewables growth to distributed energy resources. Texture, the grid software platform that provides utilities a single view of every device and data source on their network, announced on May 20 a $12.5 million Series A co-led by VoLo Earth Ventures and Equal Ventures, with participation from Lerer Hippeau and Abstract Ventures. The funding supports a platform already operational at utility cooperatives and energy companies, providing the coherent data infrastructure needed to operate the grid in real time. Power utilities are operating a system that's drifted far from what it was originally built to handle. Grids built for one-way power flow are now expected to coordinate insatiable demand from data centers, manage increased congestion, integrate utility-scale renewables, manage local networks amid an influx of electric vehicles and distributed generation, and harden transmission assets against extreme weather, all at once. At the same time, they're being asked to ensure the wave of new technologies being deployed to modernize the grid - artificial intelligence (AI), sensors, grid-enhancing technologies, advanced metering - actually delivers on the investment. Texture connects to any meter, device, or data source, giving operators a real-time picture of the system state. Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), batteries, electric vehicles (EVs), solar, and smart thermostats all flow into a single layer where alerts surface when action is needed. The platform doesn't require rip-and-replace of existing systems or dedicated engineering teams to manage it. Market entry through co-ops. Texture's offering is gaining early traction at utility cooperatives, member-owned organizations serving 42 million Americans across distributed and rural territory, including 92% of the country's persistent-poverty counties. Co-ops manage coal plant retirements, data center load growth, and aging infrastructure with teams and budgets that are a fraction of those of investor-owned utilities. Enterprise grid software was built for utilities 10 times their size. Texture provides the same capabilities without enterprise budgets or multi-year implementations. "Co-ops kept telling me the same thing," said Sanjiv Sanghavi, Texture's co-founder and CEO. "They wanted to run modern grid programs but didn't have software built for their scale or budget. A co-op serving 15,000 members shouldn't have to build custom technology to launch a battery program or manage transformer load. We built Texture so they don't have to." Unlike legacy vendors with multi-year implementation timelines, utilities using Texture are operational within days. The platform connects to existing systems, models the data into a coherent layer, and makes it available where operators need it. Capital deferral and market access. The platform's real-time monitoring alerts operators to transformer overload, voltage anomalies, and outage risk before failures occur. A home that adds an EV can double its energy draw overnight. Multiplied across a neighborhood, that kind of load shift puts real stress on distribution infrastructure that was never sized for it. Texture sees that signal at the meter level and traces its impact up through the feeder, giving operators a chance to act before a transformer fails. Transformer prices have risen as much as 95% since 2019, according to Wood Mackenzie, and lead times on large units now exceed two years. Preventing a single failure avoids not just replacement cost but months of operational exposure. Vermont Electric Cooperative, one of the country's few carbon-neutral utilities and widely cited as among the most innovative co-ops in the northeast, uses Texture to monitor its grid and manage hundreds of batteries across its service territory. "As a co-op, our job is to provide affordable, reliable energy to our members. The challenge is that we have so many systems, and the data is spread out. You can't afford to spend half the day just hunting down the right numbers. Texture helps us bring that visibility into one place, so we're not chasing information just to figure out what to do next," said Peter Rossi, COO of Vermont Electric Cooperative. Through Texture, co-ops gain access to hardware integrations they couldn't secure on their own. Many of the biggest original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) require minimum deployment thresholds before providing direct data access. Texture has already built those integrations, with first-party connections to 50+ OEMs, including Tesla, FranklinWH, Honeywell, Ecobee, and SolarEdge, with direct relationships and service-level agreements. Ann Arbor's Sustainable Energy Utility used that access to launch a community battery program with FranklinWH across 100 homes, operational as of March 2026. Partnership and deployments. Along with the funding, Texture is partnering with NRTC (National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative), whose network represents 850 utility co-ops across the country. Through the relationship, Texture will provide member co-ops with access to grid management infrastructure previously available only to larger utilities. "Our members are under pressure to integrate new resources and manage a growing load, without adding headcount or relying on vendors whose products weren't built for co-ops. We've partnered with Texture to offer the NRTC DERMS [distributed energy resource management system] powered by Texture, giving co-ops a practical way to coordinate batteries, thermostats, and other distributed resources in real time," said Milt Geiger, vice president of Smart Grid Solutions with NRTC. Kareem Dabbagh, managing partner at VoLo Earth Ventures, joined Texture's board as part of the financing. "Co-ops are managing the hardest grid transitions happening right now. Coal plant closures, battery deployments in rural communities, and data center load growth that wasn't in anyone's forecast five years ago. Texture is the infrastructure layer that makes those programs work. That's why VoLo and Equal came in together on this round and why I joined the board," said Dabbagh. "Our initial thesis was that APIs [application programming interfaces] and data connectivity would be enough. We were wrong in the best possible way. What Texture has evolved into is the operating layer the energy industry has been missing: the infrastructure that lets utilities and VPPs [virtual power plants] actually act on their data, not just collect it. The teams building this industry's future need a foundation they can trust. That's what Texture is becoming, and it's why we're doubling down," said Rick Zullo, co-founder and general partner with Equal Ventures. The Series A brings Texture's total funding to approximately $23 million. The capital will fund team growth and platform expansion. Texture has integrations with leading OEM and energy data companies, including Tesla, FranklinWH, Honeywell, Ecobee, SolarEdge, Leap Energy, and WattTime, and has completed its System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type I and Type II security certifications. Texture is a grid software platform built for the decisions utility operators make under pressure. The platform connects to any meter, device, or data source and provides real-time monitoring, outage detection, transformer load tracking, and DER coordination. Co-ops, municipal utilities, and energy companies use Texture to prevent hardware failures, manage rising load, and coordinate distributed resources without enterprise budgets or multi-year implementations. Headquartered in New York City. Learn more at texturehq.com. Tagged in:

Texture, a New York-based grid software platform for utilities, has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding co-led by VoLo Earth Ventures and Equal Ventures, with participation from Lerer Hippeau and Abstract Ventures. The round brings total funding to approximately $23 million. The company's platform consolidates data from multiple systems including AMI, SCADA, batteries, electric vehicles and solar infrastructure into a single operational layer. Texture primarily serves utility cooperatives, which provide power to about 42 million Americans, enabling them to manage distributed energy resources without replacing existing systems. Vermont Electric Cooperative uses the platform to monitor its grid and manage distributed battery systems. Texture has established integrations with over 50 original equipment manufacturers including Tesla, FranklinWH and SolarEdge, and partnered with NRTC, which represents approximately 850 utility cooperatives nationwide.

Texture raises $12.5M to tackle the operational complexity of the modern grid. * May 20, 2026 This paid press release is brought to you from our partnership with EZ Newswire. The Post and Courier news staff was not involved in its creation. VoLo Earth and Equal Ventures co-lead Series A in grid technology firm building an "operating system" to help utilities consolidate data and maximize value across operations - from data center load to renewables growth to distributed energy resources. NEW YORK, NY, May 20, 2026 (EZ Newswire) - Texture, the grid software platform that provides utilities a single view of every device and data source on their network, today announced a $12.5 million Series A co-led by VoLo Earth Ventures and Equal Ventures, with participation from Lerer Hippeau and Abstract Ventures. The funding supports a platform already operational at utility cooperatives and energy companies, providing the coherent data infrastructure needed to operate the grid in real time. Power utilities are operating a system that's drifted far from what it was originally built to handle. Grids built for one-way power flow are now expected to coordinate insatiable demand from data centers, manage increased congestion, integrate utility-scale renewables, manage local networks amid an influx of electric vehicles and distributed generation, and harden transmission assets against extreme weather, all at once. At the same time, they're being asked to ensure the wave of new technologies being deployed to modernize the grid - AI, sensors, grid-enhancing technologies, advanced metering - actually delivers on the investment. Texture connects to any meter, device, or data source, giving operators a real-time picture of the system state. AMI systems, SCADA, batteries, EVs, solar, and smart thermostats all flow into a single layer where alerts surface when action is needed. The platform doesn't require rip-and-replace of existing systems or dedicated engineering teams to manage it. Market Entry Through Co-ops Texture's offering is gaining early traction at utility cooperatives, member-owned organizations serving 42 million Americans across distributed and rural territory, including 92% of the country's persistent-poverty counties. Co-ops manage coal plant retirements, data center load growth, and aging infrastructure with teams and budgets that are a fraction of those of investor-owned utilities. Enterprise grid software was built for utilities ten times their size. Texture provides the same capabilities without enterprise budgets or multi-year implementations. "Co-ops kept telling me the same thing," said Sanjiv Sanghavi, Texture's co-founder and CEO. "They wanted to run modern grid programs but didn't have software built for their scale or budget. A co-op serving 15,000 members shouldn't have to build custom technology to launch a battery program or manage transformer load. We built Texture so they don't have to." Unlike legacy vendors with multi-year implementation timelines, utilities using Texture are operational within days. The platform connects to existing systems, models the data into a coherent layer, and makes it available where operators need it. Capital Deferral and Market Access The platform's real-time monitoring alerts operators to transformer overload, voltage anomalies, and outage risk before failures occur. A home that adds an EV can double its energy draw overnight. Multiplied across a neighborhood, that kind of load shift puts real stress on distribution infrastructure that was never sized for it. Texture sees that signal at the meter level and traces its impact up through the feeder, giving operators a chance to act before a transformer fails. Transformer prices have risen as much as 95% since 2019, according to Wood Mackenzie, and lead times on large units now exceed two years. Preventing a single failure avoids not just replacement cost but months of operational exposure. Vermont Electric Cooperative, one of the country's few carbon-neutral utilities and widely cited as among the most innovative co-ops in the northeast, uses Texture to monitor its grid and manage hundreds of batteries across its service territory. "As a co-op, our job is to provide affordable, reliable energy to our members. The challenge is that we have so many systems, and the data is spread out. You can't afford to spend half the day just hunting down the right numbers. Texture helps us bring that visibility into one place, so we're not chasing information just to figure out what to do next," said Peter Rossi, COO of Vermont Electric Cooperative. Through Texture, co-ops gain access to hardware integrations they couldn't secure on their own. Many of the biggest OEMs require minimum deployment thresholds before providing direct data access. Texture has already built those integrations, with first-party connections to 50+ OEMs, including Tesla, FranklinWH, Honeywell, Ecobee, and SolarEdge, with direct relationships and service-level agreements. Ann Arbor's Sustainable Energy Utility used that access to launch a community battery program with FranklinWH across 100 homes, operational as of March 2026. Partnership and Deployments Along with the funding, Texture is partnering with NRTC, whose network represents 850 utility co-ops across the country. Through the relationship, Texture will provide member co-ops with access to grid management infrastructure previously available only to larger utilities. "Our members are under pressure to integrate new resources and manage a growing load, without adding headcount or relying on vendors whose products weren't built for co-ops. We've partnered with Texture to offer the NRTC DERMS powered by Texture, giving co-ops a practical way to coordinate batteries, thermostats, and other distributed resources in real time," said Milt Geiger, VP of Smart Grid Solutions, NRTC. Kareem Dabbagh, Managing Partner at VoLo Earth Ventures, joined Texture's board as part of the financing. "Co-ops are managing the hardest grid transitions happening right now. Coal plant closures, battery deployments in rural communities, and data center load growth that wasn't in anyone's forecast five years ago. Texture is the infrastructure layer that makes those programs work. That's why VoLo and Equal came in together on this round and why I joined the board," said Dabbagh. "Our initial thesis was that APIs and data connectivity would be enough. We were wrong in the best possible way. What Texture has evolved into is the operating layer the energy industry has been missing: the infrastructure that lets utilities and VPPs actually act on their data, not just collect it. The teams building this industry's future need a foundation they can trust. That's what Texture is becoming, and it's why we're doubling down," said Rick Zullo, co-founder and General Partner, Equal Ventures. The Series A brings Texture's total funding to approximately $23 million. The capital will fund team growth and platform expansion. Texture has integrations with leading OEM and energy data companies, including Tesla, FranklinWH, Honeywell, Ecobee, SolarEdge, Leap Energy, and WattTime, and has completed its SOC 2 Type I and Type II security certifications. About Texture Texture is a grid software platform built for the decisions utility operators make under pressure. The platform connects to any meter, device, or data source and provides real-time monitoring, outage detection, transformer load tracking, and DER coordination. Co-ops, municipal utilities, and energy companies use Texture to prevent hardware failures, manage rising load, and coordinate distributed resources without enterprise budgets or multi-year implementations. Headquartered in New York City. Learn more at texturehq.com. Media Contact Fiana Tulip Mahoney Communications Group