Image: Uplight. Uplight, a US energy software company that helps electric utilities reduce their baseload energy use by monitoring and adapting how their networks operate based on consumer behaviour, has reached a valuation of US$1.5 billion following investment from groups including Schneider Electric. Uplight was formed through the 2019 merger of group of separate start-ups including Simple Energy and Tendril, and already has contracts with 80 different utilities serving more than 100 million customers. When the two companies merged, power project and infrastructure company AES Corporation took a strategic stake in Uplight and this week AES said that following the latest deal, its stake in the company is now worth around US$450 million.