3 year-old startup BPL Global eyes IPO !!!

BPL Global eyes IPO
3/27/2007 9:41:00 AM ET

Smart grid, broadband grow for BPL Global Three-year-old startup gets $5 mln from Morgan Stanley
By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatchLast Update: 9:36 AM ET Mar 27, 2007

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Andres Wydler knows how to move at Internet speed after more than 12 years as a top executive with tech firms such as Macromedia and others.Now, as a co-founder of the three-year-old startup BPL Global, he's attempting to get monolithic power companies to pick up their pace by adopting his company's line of smart-grid and broadband service technology.'You'd be surprised how entrepreneurial large companies have become in the last six to 12 months,' Wydler said in an interview with MarketWatch. 'There's worldwide mandates to improve efficiencies, and worldwide interest in reducing theft - it's a huge problem. You have green energy requirements ... It's amazing they could move as fast as they are.'Some big players have taken notice of BPL Global's success thus far as a start-up working to improve the efficiencies of electric utility firms and sell residential and commercial broadband Internet services once power distribution systems are outfitted to monitor demand.To date, BPL Global has closed three rounds of financing including a $29 million round two months ago. Morgan Stanley pitched in $5 million to BPL Global as the investment bank headed off a move by rival Goldman Sachs to invest in Current Communications, another mover in the broadband-over-power lines business. See full story.Meanwhile in the IPO market, at least two deals in the electric power efficiency game are planning to go public this year: Comverge, a maker of wireless meters for power companies and other energy-saving equipment, and Enernoc, a provider of software and services to the electrical power industry.BPL Global may consider an IPO down the road along with other options, but Wydler said the company is more focused on growth and new customers in both the smart grid space and broadband over power lines.'What we want to do is provide real time visibility of the whole grid. That's a prerequisite for the deployment of our applications,' he said.BPL Global offers several money-generating options for its customers.By monitoring demand over the grid, electric power gets rationed more efficiently and power companies can sell more power elsewhere during non-peak hours. More efficient systems also help extend the life of power generation equipment.Once the electric power monitoring system is set up, it allows additional capabilities for utility lines, including selling Internet service at a lower price point than phone and cable TV companies. Customers get high speed Internet service by plugging a power modem into any electric power socket.All told, BPL Global's technology can improve efficiency of power grids by 5%-10%.Besides the U.S., BPL Global is setting its sites on Latin America, Europe and the Middle East as well, with strong demand seen in places where broadband Internet has low penetration.'We not only increase the efficiency, we also increase the bottom line because the utility doesn't have to build capacity for the peak loads. You can sell extra power - it's double win,' Wydler said.