Dive Brief:
- Exelon’s climate investment arm has become a minority investor in artificial intelligence-powered infrastructure and transmission planning company Continuum Industries, the companies announced last week.
- Exelon, one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the U.S., has added the company to its Climate Change Investment Initiative portfolio and cohort, according to a Sept. 16 press release. The fund, also known as 2c2i, does not disclose its investment amounts, but typically invests at least $100,000 and up to $300,000 in equity investments to fill funding gaps for cohort companies, 2c2i Lead Faith Davis told ESG Dive.
- Exelon launched the climate investment arm in 2019, which has a $20 million remit to support startups “that catalyze solutions to climate change challenges within Exelon’s major market areas,” according to the utility giant’s website. Companies backed are also expected to advance social equality and economic prosperity in Exelon’s markets.
Dive Insight:
Continuum launched in 2018 and has built out its “Optioneer” platform since, which helps companies plan grid connections; site plan; do automated environmental risk and land impact analysis; and map the risk, constraints and impacts of projects, according to its website. In addition to the investment, Continuum will also have its Optioneer platform deployed across Exelon’s family of companies, according to a Sept. 16 company blog.
Continuum and 2c2i first connected in December 2025. Davis said in an exclusive interview with ESG Dive earlier this month the fund was drawn to Continuum’s application by the “growth and opportunity” in the startup’s market, as well as the confidence and technical expertise of the founding team and Continuum’s customers and project pipeline.
“We're seeing a lot more focus around affordability and efficiency, and technologies that help the utility be more efficient in terms of building infrastructure or running our existing infrastructure more effectively is a space that we're looking at,” Davis said. “The transmission planning space is an area where — given all the demand that we're seeing for load and things of that nature — we're looking for ways to make the process and the planning quicker and more efficient.”
As a member of the 2c2i cohort, Continuum will have an Exelon liaison work with the company to help it scale, Davis said. The Optioneer platform is expected to be deployed across Exelon’s utility companies, which operate in the PJM interconnection transmission region across five states and the District of Columbia.
"As demand for electricity continues to rise, utilities and developers need a repeatable and consistent approach to planning and delivering infrastructure predictably and efficiently," Continuum CEO Grzegorz Marecki said in Exelon’s release.
Continuum said it has used its platform to screen more than 420,000 miles of infrastructure alternatives and helped developers find the “lowest-impact and fastest-to-permit solutions.” Continuum said it will work with Exelon to identify and prioritize where to deploy the platform across its system.
Companies 2c2i invested in have subsequently raised more than $555 million in follow-on funding, created more than 3,558 jobs, generated more than $548 million in revenue and led to 1.2 million metric tons in carbon dioxide efficient avoided or removed, Exelon said in its latest sustainability report released in August.
Exelon announced last month that it added sustainable energy and grid solution companies Public Grid and Backstop to its 2c2i cohort. The climate investment fund’s current round of applications are due by Sept. 27.
