Chicago predictive analytics startup Uptake publicly announced two new clients who will use the company’s software across their wind energy fleets.
Uptake, a high-profile Chicago startup launched by Groupon founders Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky, said Thursday that it has added two subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway Energy to its client roster: MidAmerican Energy Company and BHE Renewables.
The news is significant in that these are the first publicly announced users of Uptake’s predictive analytics software since it began working with Caterpillar in 2014. Uptake’s technology helps Cat know when machines will fail before they actually break down, saving money on repairs and increasing safety.
Uptake is providing a similar service through Uptake Wind. It allows engineers and wind energy operators to quickly identify high-priority problems that could impact downtime, helping them resolve an issue before it’s too late. Uptake’s software can also detect and resolve underperformance issues, and give machine learning recommendations to improve production.
“We wanted software that was more than a dashboard,” Bill Fehrman, President and CEO of MidAmerican Energy Company and BHE Renewables, said in a statement. “We want to put data-driven recommendations into the hands of our operational team members, so they can drive business value directly. Given the quality and breadth of Uptake’s platform, the cross-industry data science acumen, and Uptake’s experience developing and commercializing similar tools with other industrial leaders, we saw them as the ideal partner to help us push our wind fleet toward greater efficiency and productivity.”
Uptake was founded in 2014 and has grown quickly, having raised over $80 million. The company recently secured $40 million in funding from Revolution Growth, the VC firm from the founders of AOL. That new round valued Uptake at $2 billion.
Uptake says its wind solutions are now commercially available, and it expects to offer the solutions to other wind owners this fall.
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