Cable raises A$4M pre-seed to bring battery savings to Australian SMEs
What's the deal? Sydney-based energy startup CableDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised A$4M in a pre-seed round to help small businesses slash their electricity costs. The round was led by UK climate fund Systemiq CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Black Nova VCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, with backing from angel investors in the startup and infrastructure sectors. It marks Systemiq Capital's first investment in an Australian company.
Cable installs battery storage systems at small businesses with no upfront cost. The startup owns the hardware and uses software to charge batteries when wholesale electricity prices are low and discharge them during expensive peaks — passing the savings on to customers.
Founder Dominic Reardon describes the service as a "zero-risk, zero-complexity, zero-capex" way for SMEs to tap into the distributed energy grid.
Why now? Australia's energy market is rapidly shifting towards distributed assets like rooftop solar and batteries, but SMEs have been largely locked out. Many lack suitable roof space, capital for hardware, or cooperative landlords. They're also stuck in a retail no-man's land — too small for bespoke commercial energy deals, but without the scale that drives residential market innovation.
Cable ran a six-month private beta that cut annual electricity bills by as much as 40% for participating businesses. It is now launching a public beta targeting SMEs in the Sydney metro area with annual power bills between $5,000 and $50,000 — think cafes, breweries, and retailers.
What could go wrong? Cable's model depends on wholesale electricity price volatility to generate savings. If price spreads between peak and off-peak narrow, the arbitrage opportunity shrinks. The company also carries the capital burden of owning all the battery hardware, which could strain finances as it scales.
Landlord cooperation remains a wildcard. Even though Cable removes the cost barrier for tenants, installing hardware on leased premises still requires property owner buy-in — the very obstacle that has historically blocked SMEs from adopting energy tech.
The signal: Cable reflects a growing trend of energy-as-a-service models that remove upfront costs to accelerate clean energy adoption. The involvement of a UK climate fund in a pre-seed Australian deal underscores global investor appetite for solutions targeting underserved segments of the energy transition.
SMEs make up a massive share of the economy yet remain one of the hardest groups to reach with distributed energy. If Cable's model proves scalable beyond Sydney, it could open a significant new market — not just in Australia, but anywhere small businesses face high and volatile power costs.
Source: startupresearcher.com
