A new business is making waves in the energy sector after its first round of funding was oversubscribed due to high levels of interest in its disruptive technology.
With a background in global energy markets with some of the world’s biggest technology companies, Omar Rahim and Momin Hashmee have joined forces to launch Energi Mine, a business which utilises Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to procure and trade energy for some of the UK’s biggest companies.
Launched 6 months ago, Energi Mine’s clients include a global law firm, the largest independent construction materials group in the UK and the country’s largest privately-owned forecourt operator. A sales pipeline of over £1 million will also be realised within the next 12 months.
Energi Mine’s offices in Greater Manchester include a state of the art trading desk – the only of its kind in the North West – where over £100 million is already under management. The trading desk monitors wholesale energy prices and analyses a range of data from power station capacity and gas flows, to international bond prices and weather patterns. Algorithms and AI enables Energi Mine to process information much faster, ultimately leading to better quality decisions when buying energy and protecting clients from price spikes.
CEO Omar Rahim has traded energy for some of the largest trading houses in Europe, having managed over $3billion in energy assets worldwide. He also has a track record in growing businesses from inception.
COO Momin Hashmee has worked at tech giants such as Intel, Samsung and Microsoft and is constantly working with leading data scientists to develop new alternatives to traditional energy procurement solutions.
Commenting on the launch of Energi Mine, Omar Rahim said “Energi Mine is a business with the potential to revolutionise the whole sector.
“We recognise that certain tasks can be done more efficiently by machines. Developed by data scientists from across the tech industry, we use cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence to procure energy and manage companies’ data. We use AI to trawl market data looking for the optimum time to buy or sell energy. The technology also processes companies’ consumption data, so our algorithms can suggest when and how to use energy smarter.”
Hashmee concluded: “Our innovation comes from our extensive background in the technology industry. Bringing that experience into the energy space means that we have been able to create a whole new paradigm for energy procurement. The resulting impact means eradicating old-fashioned, manual approaches and creating new ways to capture, view and analyse energy data.
“Automating as many processes as possible means human errors are minimised. Lengthy processes that normally take up to two weeks to complete can be done within an hour. The energy procurement industry is heavily manualised, with a huge reliance on a series of spreadsheets compiled by analysts – this takes time and can be expensive. Our AI uses machine learning which means that our computer programs get smarter and smarter the more times they carry out a request. This results in more insightful analysis from data – ultimately leading to greater cost saving opportunities.”
Energi Mine’s progress has not gone unnoticed. The company has reached the final of Venture Fest Manchester 2017 while it has now started a second round of funding months ahead of schedule.