PowerLabs, an energy and climate-tech start-up based in Lagos, has raised a pre-seed funding round to address persistent electricity challenges in Nigeria.
The round was led by Breega, with participation from Catalyst Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures, and Kaleo Ventures. According to CEO and Co-Founder, Tobechukwu Arinze, the funding will support the expansion of its AI-powered platform, Pai Enterprise, across commercial and industrial sectors, as well as into other West African markets.
The investment comes at a time when businesses across Nigeria face ongoing grid instability, forcing reliance on alternative energy sources such as diesel generators, solar systems, inverters, and battery storage. Managing these multiple systems has proven costly and operationally complex, particularly for large-scale operations.
In 2024 alone, Nigeria’s manufacturing sector reportedly spent over N1.11 trillion on alternative energy, underscoring the financial burden of unreliable public power supply. Traditional energy management systems have focused mainly on monitoring usage, offering limited solutions in an environment where outages are frequent.
PowerLabs aims to change this through its platform, which acts as an intelligent control layer for distributed energy resources. Pai Enterprise is designed to integrate and manage various energy sources in real time, enabling organisations to operate efficient, self-optimising microgrids.
The solution is particularly relevant for critical sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, and data centres, where uninterrupted power is essential. By optimising energy use and coordinating multiple sources, the platform helps reduce downtime, cut costs, and improve overall efficiency.
Investors say the technology addresses a key gap in Africa’s energy landscape. Representatives from Breega and Catalyst Fund noted that real-time energy orchestration will be crucial in helping businesses balance reliability, cost, and environmental impact.
PowerLabs plans to use the funding to scale deployment, enhance its predictive capabilities, and deepen integration across energy systems, positioning itself as a key player in Nigeria’s evolving energy ecosystem.
