Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the utility sector. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked AI startups impacting utility companies.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top AI Startups impacting Utility Companies out of 998
The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2.093.000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.
The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 998 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 AI startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 993 AI solutions for utility companies, get in touch.
SiteSee detects Damaged Power Equipment
Electric utility companies maintain widely distributed and remote assets such as cross-arms, insulators, and poles. However, traditional physical inspections of power infrastructures are expensive, risky, and time-consuming. To make inspections more efficient, technology startups are deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and drones to detect faulty equipment. This enables predictive maintenance, reduces operational costs, and improves safety for electric utilities.
Australian startup SiteSee performs automatic power infrastructure audits. Utilizing reality modeling techniques, it constructs 3D digital twins of the structures. It then uses machine learning to identify as-built conditions and compare them against original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specifications, detecting damaged power equipment. It also offers PoleSee, an AI-based tool that performs automated equipment counting and condition audits for pole top assets.
VODA.ai predicts Water Pipe Failures
Pipe leakages not only lead to wastage of water but also require costly repairs. Predicting water pipe failure, however, is difficult as they are mostly underground and extend over long distances. As a result, startups are developing cloud-based software that utilizes machine learning (ML) to predict the possibility of pipe failures and their consequences. This allows the water utilities to prioritize pipe replacements and, hence, prevent leakages.
VODA.ai is a US-based startup that offers a water pipe failure detection platform, daVinci. The AI-based platform assesses utility datasets and third-party data, such as satellite images, soil, and land use, among others, to assess the likelihood of failure for each of the pipes. It then overlays the consequence of failure to visualize the risk for utility companies. It ranks the pipes by the risk of failure within the next 12 months for the operations teams and within the next 5-10 years for the planning teams.
Hades advances Sewer Inspections
Most sewers are very old and are reaching the end of their service life. Additionally, climate change and urbanization are increasing the burden on sewer systems. The higher wastewater runoff makes the maintenance of sewers very critical. This is why water tech startups offer sewer inspection solutions to detect faults in sewers. Such solutions enable all stakeholders to inspect, assess, maintain, and manage sewers more effectively.
Swiss startup Hades develops sewer inspection software. It uses ML algorithms to detect defects from videos, speeding up sewer inspection times. This also enables the detection of critical defects and accurate assessment of sewer conditions. Additionally, the solution allows effective collaboration among multiple stakeholders by enabling real-time sharing of encrypted data.
Urbint enables Asset Monitoring & Worker Safety
Gas pipe leakages, especially near densely populated areas and critical facilities, can lead to severe consequences including loss of lives and destruction of properties. Manual detection of the leaks is ineffective as there is often no significant symptom other than traces of smell. Additionally, manual inspections also expose workers to the gases. Therefore, to prevent mishaps, startups provide software that predicts safety hazards and identifies pipeline failures.
Urbint is a US-based startup that offers asset monitoring solutions that improve worker safety at gas utility providers. The startup’s asset integrity solution uses AI and digital twins to identify current asset failures and future failure risks. Its damage prevention solution identifies high-risk excavations and powers interventions to stop such incidents, increase asset reliability and safeguard workers. Urbint also improves worker safety by predicting the potential severity and likelihood of an incident based on safety precursors including historical projects and safety records.
Blicker develops a Meter Readout Assistant
Photos taken upside down, dirty meters, or meters found in other challenging conditions lead to faulty readings. This results in confusion and delay in the billing process, leading to lower customer satisfaction. To resolve this issue, startups are developing smart metering solutions that digitize gas, electricity and water meters from photos. This ensures the collection of correct readings at the first attempt, speeds up the billing process, cuts down operational costs, and reduces inbound customer service calls.
Dutch startup Blicker develops an AI-powered meter readout assistant. It utilizes deep learning to translate the visual information captured in a photo of a meter into data in real-time. It also automatically collects other information, such as serial numbers, meter categories, meter types, building year, meter capacities, and image quality, among others. This enables utilities to quickly engage users and improve operational efficiency. For example, if the wrong meter is photographed, Blicker’s feedback loop flags the issue.
Discover more Utility Startups
Utility solutions such as the examples highlighted in this report focus on drone-based damage detection, pipeline failure analysis, and sewer inspection as well as chatbot solutions. While all of these technologies play a major role in advancing utility management, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more technology solutions for utility companies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download one of our free Industry Innovation Reports to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.
