London-based energy technology company Tem has raised $75 million in fresh funding as it looks to expand internationally and accelerate the rollout of its AI-driven platform designed to cut business electricity bills by up to 30 per cent.

The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and is understood to value the four-year-old company at around $300 million. Tem plans to use the capital to further develop its technology and scale its operations in the US.

Founded in 2021, Tem has built a platform it calls “Red”, described by the company as a neo-utility that uses artificial intelligence to match electricity supply and demand directly, bypassing the wholesale market and its multiple intermediaries.

Joe McDonald, Tem’s co-founder and chief executive, said the aim was to remove what he described as unnecessary “middle men” from the energy system. “We calculate that about $1 trillion is taken out every year in transaction fees by ‘Big Energy’,” he said. “Our mission is to take that cost of transaction down to zero.”

Tem’s software is already being used by around 2,600 businesses, including Boohoo and Fever-Tree, to reduce electricity costs. Since launching Red in November 2024, the company says it has saved customers $35 million in energy bills. Two schools have also signed up, with one saving £55,000 a year, according to Tem.

McDonald said the inefficiencies of the current system made disruption inevitable. “I don’t see why every single electricity transaction won’t be run by infrastructure like ours over the next ten years,” he said. “There is too much inefficiency in the outdated process that 99 per cent of transactions currently rely on.”

Tem was founded by a team of energy specialists including Jason Stocks, Bartlomiej Szostek, Ross Mackay and McDonald. The latest raise takes total funding to $94 million, with existing investors including Hitachi Ventures and Atomico.

McDonald said Red had been launched partly to demonstrate what Tem’s technology could achieve. Over the longer term, the company plans to license its platform to utilities globally to reduce their cost per transaction. Two utilities are already using the software, although Tem has declined to name them.

“At the heart of the problem is the energy transaction itself,” McDonald said. “If I’m a business buying electricity, I’m typically paying 25 to 30 per cent more than the cost at which it’s generated. That’s because the transaction passes through up to seven intermediaries, each taking a cut.”

Tem says it has facilitated around two terawatt hours of electricity transactions so far, roughly equivalent to powering Liverpool for a year. Its Red service is run by two AI agents supported by a team of just four people.

“A traditional utility would need around 170 staff to serve the same number of customers,” McDonald said. “That shows how technology infrastructure can transform efficiency, while also improving the customer experience.”

With energy costs still a major concern for UK and international businesses, Tem is betting that AI-driven infrastructure, rather than incremental reform, will reshape how electricity is bought and sold.

Amy Ingham

Amy is a newly qualified journalist specialising in business journalism at Business Matters with responsibility for news content for what is now the UK’s largest print and online source of current business news.

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Finance chief Diego De Giorgi had been seen as a contender for CEO role

Standard Chartered’s finance chief has left the bank to take up a senior role at asset manager Apollo.

Diego De Giorgi, who joined the bank in September 2023 and became chief financial officer in January 2024, has stepped down to head Apollo’s Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

FTSE-100 listed Standard Chartered shares plummeted nearly five per cent in early trading to 1,807.50p.

De Giorgi had previously spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs, including eight as a partner, before taking on the role of chief operating officer for the global investment banking division.

The outgoing finance boss is recognised as the driving force behind Standard Chartered’s ‘Fit for Growth’ programme, as reported by City AM.

Introduced in 2024, this initiative launched a three-year transformation aimed at simplifying, standardising and digitising the bank’s operations and cutting costs by approximately $1.5bn over three years.

“Whilst banks are ultimately run by many more people than the key C-suite members, this departure is a particular blow for Standard Chartered in our view,” analysts at Jefferies commented.

They added that De Giorgi was seen by investors as a leading candidate to succeed chief executive Bill Winters – currently the longest-serving banking boss among the major British banks.

Analysts commented: “[De Giorgi] had a transformational effect on investor communications over the past several years, contributing not just to financial performance but also better communications which have helped the share price multiple,”.

Standard Chartered, which has a focus on Asia and is well-known in the UK as Liverpool FC’s shirt sponsor, announced that it has appointed Peter Burrill as interim chief financial officer, with a permanent appointment to be made in due course.

“As deputy CFO, Pete has extensive sectoral experience,” Winters stated.

“He likewise provides valuable continuity to the leadership of our finance function and takes on the position as a well-regarded member of our global leadership team. Under his interim stewardship we remain well-positioned to capitalise on the strategic focus and momentum of our business.”

The project is seeking to sell land for major data centre and energy investment to plug a funding gap for the rail testing project

Plans to secure a major data centre and renewable energy investment to help fund the £400m Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) project have been pushed back. The overall project, proposed by the Welsh Government seven years ago, is earmarked for a 700-hectare site – the size of Gibraltar – at Onllwyn in the Dulais Valley.

The Welsh Government wholly-owned company behind the project, GCRE Ltd, has been in the marketplace seeking to raise £330m in private funding for the scheme, which would be the world’s first integrated testing facility for both trains and rail infrastructure equipment. The project has already secured, and is close to spending, £50m from the Welsh Government and £20m from the former Conservative UK Government to prepare the site, including the construction of an electricity substation.

The testing facility would consist of two electrified seven kilometre looped testing tracks for rolling stock and infrastructure, both designed to operate 24/7 year-round. It would also include train storage and maintenance facilities, a control centre, a 100-bedroom hotel, as well as training and research and development functions.

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A later phase, outside of the £400m fundraising package, could also see the development of a rail-related technology park, potentially funded privately.

Fundraising efforts initially focused on securing equity and progressed to talks with three potential investors, including one Middle Eastern investor. When a deal failed to materialise, GCRE entered into advanced negotiations with a long-term debt funder. While confident of closing a deal, the proposed investor – which was also seeking a guarantee from the Welsh Government on its lending – opted at a late stage not to proceed. Whether the project is funded by debt, equity, or a combination of the two.

Ultimately the market determines what amount it is prepared investment. While there is interest, and GCRE Ltd are confident of the testing facility becoming profitable in its early years, there is not the risk appetite to commit £330m, so at present further government funding will be required.

To help narrow the funding gap, GCRE last year sought an energy and data centre partner (EDCP) through an invitation-to-tender process, with the aim of securing a preferred developer before the Senedd election in May. However, the initial timeframe for expressions of interest was deemed too short by interested parties to develop comprehensive proposals for the site. As a result, a new invitation to tender, through Sell2Wales, has been launched with a deadline of March 10.

GCRE Ltd envisages it will be in a position to take forward three shortlisted bidders in the summer. Following detailed dialogue, a preferred investor – assuming a deal can be struck – is expected to be confirmed by the end of the year. Any land deal, which is most likely to be with a developer that would then strike agreements to bring in data centre and renewable energy operators, is expected to generate tens of millions of pounds towards the rail testing facility.

The current Labour administration remains supportive of the project and has indicated a willingness to provide additional funding to close any gap. However, it would be for the next Cardiff Bay administration to decide whether to take the project forward.

If the required funding is secured, the company status of GCRE Ltd may also need to be changed to ensure it is not viewed by the UK Treasury as being part of the Welsh Government accounting framework.

Otherwise, private investment could be treated as part of the Welsh Government’s block grant, meaning an equivalent amount would need to be held in reserve. While this is ultimately a matter of classification for the Office for National Statistics, one potential solution would be for GCRE to become a community interest company.

Chief executive of GCRE Ltd, Simon Jones, said: “The last few weeks have been very encouraging, as we have seen the significant interest there is from the commercial market in the GCRE site as a location for high-quality renewable energy and data centre infrastructure.

“What’s clear, however, is that more time is needed for bidders to develop their proposals. That has meant we have taken the decision as a company to extend our partner search and give everyone in the market more time to put forward proposals.

“That is why we have issued a new invitation to tender with an extended timeline, allowing that interest to crystallise into firm proposals. We had originally hoped to appoint a partner by the end of the current Senedd term, but that has not been possible, and so we have extended the time available into 2026.

“The opportunity for a long-term partnership with GCRE is a unique one. The site’s size, power grid and telecoms connectivity make it very appealing for the development of renewable energy assets and data centre infrastructure. Both 132kV and 400kV power lines cross the GCRE site, with high-quality fibre connectivity being progressed for the area.

“It’s right that we take the time to find the correct partner. Energy and data centre infrastructure at GCRE will help raise the economic profile of the site, which is very important as we continue our search for private investment for the rail project.”

The rail centre has received expressions of interest from more than 200 firms looking to utilise its facilities, including Network Rail, Transport for Wales, and leading train manufacturers such as Hitachi and its Spanish rival Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), which has a train manufacturing plant in Newport.

An economic assessment by professional services firm PwC suggests that over ten years – excluding the planned later phase, the Sarn Helen Technology Park – GCRE could create 1,100 permanent jobs, with a £300m gross value added (GVA) impact on the local area and £1.2bn over its lifetime. The project has also been forecast to generate a 15-fold economic return for every £1 invested.

Novo Nordisk referenced the FDA’s concerns in its lawsuit announcement on Monday, saying Hims & Hers’ compounded drugs “may contain dangerous impurities or incorrect amounts of active ingredients, which can result in life-threatening immune responses”.