Colombian energy technology company Bia Energy has raised $18.5 million in a new investment round led by Kaszek, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, RA Capital, EWA Capital, and the Inter-American Development Bank, among other investors. The financing brings the company’s total capital raised since its creation in 2022 to approximately $40 million. Bia plans to use the funding to expand beyond digital energy commercialization into distributed generation and utility software.
Bia Expands Its Energy Platform
Founded by Sebastián Ruales, Leonardo Velásquez, and Guillermo Plaza, Bia has built a technology-enabled energy business focused on serving commercial customers in Colombia. Its core operation involves purchasing electricity on the wholesale market and supplying businesses while using smart metering, consumption analytics, and digital tools to help customers monitor and manage energy use. The company currently works with more than 4,000 businesses and manages approximately 50 GWh of electricity per month.
The latest financing supports Bia’s transition toward a broader group organized around three businesses: energy commercialization, distributed generation, and software. Rather than relying exclusively on electricity sales, the company is developing additional infrastructure and technology products that can generate new revenue streams. The strategy is intended to combine energy supply, generation assets, and software within an integrated technology-driven model.
Distributed Solar Generation
Distributed generation is becoming a larger part of Bia’s strategy as the company develops small-scale solar projects through an energy community model. These projects are designed to connect financing, electricity generation, and energy buyers while expanding access to locally produced renewable power. Bia aims to finish 2026 with 15 energy communities of approximately 1 MW each before increasing the number of projects during 2027.
The expansion into generation moves Bia further along the electricity value chain while maintaining its focus on commercial energy customers. Through the community structure, the company intends to provide users with access to distributed generation alongside the digital tools already used to monitor consumption. The initiative also gives Bia an additional avenue for participating in Colombia’s broader transition toward more decentralized and renewable energy sources.
Olibia Becomes a Separate Software Business
Bia is also developing Olibia, a software platform originally created internally to manage the company’s energy operations and now being positioned as an independent business. The technology covers processes including customer acquisition, installations, billing, collections, customer service, and energy trading while incorporating artificial intelligence agents into operational workflows. By commercializing the platform externally, Bia is seeking to turn its internal technology infrastructure into a specialized software product for utilities.
Olibia is already being discussed with potential customers in Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Colombia, according to information provided about the company’s expansion plans. Bia also intends to broaden the platform beyond electricity companies to serve gas and water utilities, increasing the potential addressable market for the software. The strategy follows a model in which technology originally developed for an energy provider becomes a standalone vertical software platform serving other industry participants.
Financing the Next Stage
Alongside its equity financing, Bia is looking to use non-dilutive debt to support the expansion of its energy activities. The company has strengthened credit facilities with BBVA and Santander and has secured an additional pre-approved credit line of 40 billion Colombian pesos. This combination of equity and debt financing is expected to provide additional capital for distributed generation projects and the continued development of its technology businesses.
The $18.5 million round marks a new phase for Bia Energy as it evolves from a technology-enabled electricity supplier into a diversified energy and software company. Its strategy now combines digital energy commercialization, distributed solar generation, and Olibia’s utility-focused artificial intelligence platform. With additional capital and credit capacity, Bia is positioning these three businesses as the foundation for its next stage of growth in Colombia and other Latin American markets.