State of the Cloud 2023: Urbio Named Key Driver in the AI-Powered Energy Transition

The cloud economy has entered a new era, and for the energy sector, the implications are massive.

In their newly released State of the Cloud 2023 report, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP)—the historic VC firm behind giants like LinkedIn, DeepL and Auth0—has identified two major trends reshaping the technology landscape: the rise of Climate Software and the dawn of AI generation.

For energy planners and utilities, the message is clear: the tools of yesterday cannot build the infrastructure of tomorrow. Here is our take on the report and why Urbio was spotlighted as a leader in this shift.

The New Imperative: SaaS for the Energy Transition

While much of the tech world is navigating a "correction," the green economy is booming, fueled by legislation like the US Inflation Reduction Act and the European Green Deal. However, capital alone won't solve the climate crisis—we need efficiency.

Bessemer’s report highlights a critical bottleneck: the "Built World." To decarbonize buildings and expand heating networks at the necessary speed, we must move away from manual workflows and spreadsheet sprawl. The report predicts a surge in specialized software for district heating planning and energy management that replaces inefficiency with streamlined, cloud-native collaboration.

The Prediction: Climate software drives the green energy transition

In one of the report's key insights—"Prediction 2: Climate software drives the green energy transition"—Bessemer explicitly maps out the ecosystem of companies powering this change.

We are proud that Urbio was highlighted as a key player in the "Built World" category for Sustainable Design.

This isn't just a badge of honor; it is validation of our core thesis. The industry is moving away from desktop GIS tools toward specialized online platforms capable of handling the complex, data-heavy reality of urban decarbonization. Whether for a utility in the Nordics or a consulting firm in the DACH region looking to plan heating networks, the market demand is shifting toward dedicated, automated solutions.

The AI Mission: Accelerating Decarbonization

The most exciting takeaway from the 2023 report is the recognition of the real impact enabled by Artificial Intelligence. BVP notes that 96% of their investors see AI-driven features as a priority.

At Urbio, AI isn't a buzzword—it has been at the core of our mission to decarbonize buildings since day one.

We are leveraging generative design to automate the most challenging parts of district heating network planning. By using mathematical programming and machine learning to accelerate data processing, network routing and scenario generation, we free up energy experts to focus on high-value decision-making.

This is the future BVP predicts: a world where AI "multiplies software and human capabilities." For our users, this means turning months of feasibility studies into minutes of computation.

Why This Matters for Energy Planners

The transition to renewable heat is a race against time. Public authorities and engineers tasked with district heating network planning often struggle with limited resources and outdated tools.

Accelerating this transition requires lowering the barriers to entry. Doing so involves giving planners access to tools that are intuitive and fast rather than gated and complex. The "State of the Cloud" report validates this direction, confirming that the future belongs to platforms that democratize access to data and AI. This is exactly why we built Urbio—to put the power of generative design into the hands of every engineer, ensuring that complexity no longer blocks a decarbonization project.

Urbio is proud to be recognized as a frontrunner in this space. We remain committed to building leading software to plan and design the urban infrastructure of tomorrow one optimized network at a time.

Read the full report

To understand the deeper data behind these trends and explore the full "Cloud Multiverse", read the original State of the Cloud 2023 by Bessemer Venture Partners report here.