Oracle is at it again. It’s buying Opower, a company that sells data analytics software to big energy companies in a deal worth about $532 million, net of Opower’s cash.
If you don’t know Opower, which went public two years ago, you might know its work. Its “demand-side management” software powers those nudgey notes from your electric or gas company that compare your energy consumption to that of your neighbors.
Opower (OPWR) claims such name-brand customers as ComEd, PG&E, Eversource, National Grid, and SMUD. The company claims to store and analyze more than 600 billion meter reads from 60 million utility customers. In theory that data trove enables utilities to meet regulatory requirements and cut costs.
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The acquisition comes just a few weeks after Opower laid off 7.5% of its staff and a week after Oracle (ORCL) bought construction software specialist Textura.
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Oracle, which leads the market in traditional database software and is a strong player in business applications, has long focused on key vertical industries, including financial services, pharma, and, yes, utilities.
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Opower competitors include Aclara, C3 IoT, EnerNOC, Schneider Electric, Silver Spring Networks, Simple Energy, and Tendril.
The deal, which has been approved by Opower’s board, is expected to close later this year. Opower co-founder Alex Laskey will be at Coins2Day’s Brainstorm E conference later this month in Carlsbad, Calif.
Katie Fehrenbacher contributed to this article.
