California start-up Span has landed an extra $20m funding and announced integration of its smart home electrical panel with Amazon Alexa.

Span’s electrical panel lets users intelligently monitor and control their clean energy homes.

The firm began shipping its smart panel to customers in summer 2020. It says it will use the extra money to expand its reach to homeowners and develop more product offerings.

Consumers are increasingly adopting clean energy technologies such as solar, batteries and electric vehicles as they seek to increase their energy resiliency and reduce their carbon footprint. But today’s standard electrical panels, originally developed in the 1950s, are a barrier to adopting and installing these upgrades.

Span reinvented the electrical panel to simplify the adoption of clean energy and to deliver a virtual interface to the home. The panel enables precise energy monitoring at the circuit level and real-time controls, and has on-board intelligence. From insights into home energy use to a customisable backup that extends home battery outage protection, it can delivers smarter energy management accessible via an app.

The Alexa voice integration provides a convenient way to interact with energy in evolving smart homes. Soon, householders will be able to use Alexa-enabled devices to turn on or off any circuit or appliance in their home, find out what energy source is providing power, or discover what appliance is using the most power. With linked accounts, they can take actions such as checking on their power usage by saying: “Alexa, ask Span what is consuming the most power right now.”

“The upcoming decade will be about home electrification and accelerating the adoption of clean energy,” said Arch Rao, founder and CEO of Span, who previously led the Tesla Energy product team. “It’s great to add investors that are aligned with our long-term vision and will help Span bring innovation to the energy and home service markets. We see these Amazon Alexa voice controls as an important step in making consumers aware of their personal energy use and make controlling every aspect of their home more accessible and convenient.”

The funding round was led by Munich Re Ventures’ HSB Fund and joined by the Alexa Fund, with continued participation from existing investors.

“As Amazon continues to expand its smart devices portfolio and home services business, we see Span’s energy control and automation as an important new area for innovation which will add value to our customers,” said Paul Bernard, director of the Amazon Alexa Fund.

Matthew McElhattan, investment director at Munich Re Ventures, added: “As investors and partners, respectively, Munich Re Ventures and HSB are excited to support Span’s efforts to encourage the adoption of clean energy through their intelligent energy products and technologies. Arch Rao’s vision for Span aligns with our mission to close the digital gap, improve customer experience, and advance the sustainable use of energy.”

Munich Re Ventures, the venture arm of Munich Re, a provider of reinsurance, primary insurance and insurance-related risk products. Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB), a subsidiary of Munich Re, is a multi-line specialty insurer and reinsurer and provider of inspection, risk management and IoT technology services for businesses and homes.