The most reliable way to monitor a high-voltage power line is to be the line itself. That is the simple, elegant, and profoundly difficult premise Laki Power has been working on since 2015. The Icelandic company builds hardware that clamps onto live transmission wires, harvesting just enough power from the electromagnetic field to run a suite of sensors and cameras, then beaming that data back to grid operators. No solar panels, no diesel generators, and no batteries to freeze or fail in the remote places where these lines often run.
It is a classic piece of Icelandic engineering: pragmatic, self-sufficient, and born from a need to manage a harsh environment. The company’s recent €6 million Series A, led by the NATO Innovation Fund, is a bet that this approach can scale beyond the fjords to become a standard tool for utilities staring down wildfires, ice storms, and the need to squeeze more capacity from aging grids [NATO Innovation Fund, September 2026].
The physics of the wedge
Laki’s wedge is its patented PowerGRAB technology, which its founder and CTO, Óskar Valtýsson, first conceived in 2004 [Green by Iceland, September 2026]. The core innovation is a method to siphon a small but steady stream of DC power from the alternating current flowing through a conductor. This eliminates the single biggest point of failure for remote grid monitoring: the power source.
Its main product, the LKX-MULTI, is a self-powered device that attaches directly to a line. It packs sensors for temperature, wind, and conductor sag, along with cameras and communications gear. The data feeds into a software platform for applications like dynamic line rating (safely pushing more power through a line when conditions allow), wildfire detection, and icing alerts [All About Circuits, November 2025]. The company has also developed a drone-based inspection platform, the LKX-DRONE, and integrated Starlink for connectivity in areas beyond cellular reach [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF, Unknown].
A founder's two-decade obsession
The company’s trajectory is tightly wound around its technical founder. Óskar Valtýsson, an engineer-inventor, spent years developing the power-harvesting method before co-founding Laki with CEO Ósvaldur Knudsen. The company’s early development was supported by Icelandic transmission operator Landsnet, providing a real-world testing ground [Green by Iceland, September 2026]. This patient, engineering-first culture is reflected in a funding timeline that leaned heavily on non-dilutive capital before seeking venture scale.
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead Investor | Key Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Grant | €2.1M | European Union | Technology development & marketing [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF, Unknown] |
| Apr 2025 | Seed | Undisclosed | Brunnur Ventures | Portfolio and platform development [Business Wire / STT Info, April 2025] |
| Sep 2026 | Series A | €6M | NATO Innovation Fund | Scale manufacturing, expand deployments in Europe, North America, Australia [NATO Innovation Fund, September 2026] |
The NATO Innovation Fund’s lead is a notable signal. It points to the dual-use nature of resilient grid monitoring, aligning civilian infrastructure security with defense priorities. The round also included existing investor ReykVC [NATO Innovation Fund, September 2026].
Pilots across hemispheres
Traction is measured in pilots across challenging geographies. By late 2025, Laki reported early deployments or tests in Iceland, Greece, Turkey, Argentina, Norway, and Canada [All About Circuits, November 2025]. A January 2026 report added projects in Saudi Arabia to that list, noting the work often came through Iceland’s business and diplomatic networks [Latitude Media, January 2026].
The sales motion appears to be a classic hardware-enterprise crawl. The company has brought on a Head of Sales, Angeline Stuma, and a Head of Manufacturing, Björn Sighvatsson, suggesting a focus on operational scale [RocketReach, 2026]. The goal with the Series A capital is to transition these pilots into recurring deployments with transmission and distribution operators.
The incumbent is inertia
The most credible risk for Laki isn’t a direct competitor named in any source. It’s the incumbent solution: doing nothing, or sticking with sporadic, manual inspections. Utilities are notoriously slow-moving, with long procurement cycles and a deep aversion to risk on critical infrastructure. Convincing them to install a new hardware system on a live, high-voltage asset is a high-barrier sale.
Laki’s answer is a unit-economic one. The argument is that the total cost of ownership for a battery- or generator-powered system, when you factor in remote maintenance and replacement, will eventually lose to a set-it-and-forget-it device that powers itself. The company must prove not just that the technology works, but that it works reliably for years, and that the data it provides creates enough value,through prevented outages, increased grid capacity, or avoided wildfires,to justify the upfront install.
For a sense of the stakes, consider a single application: dynamic line rating. If a sensor network allows a utility to safely increase a line’s capacity by just 10% during cool, windy conditions, it can defer or avoid billions in new transmission construction. The math is compelling, but it requires utilities to trust the little box on the wire.
Laki’s bet, then, is a race against utility procurement timelines. The €6 million war chest needs to fund not just more hardware, but the patient sales engineering required to turn pilots into standards. Their true competition is the default option of helicopters and guesswork. If they win, they won’t just be selling sensors; they’ll be selling a new layer of intelligence for the global grid.
Sources
- [NATO Innovation Fund, September 2026] NATO Innovation Fund leads €6 million Series A round in Laki Power | https://www.nif.fund/news/nato-innovation-fund-leads-e6-million-series-a-round-in-laki-power-to-advance-grid-monitoring-communications-and-security/
- [Green by Iceland, September 2026] Laki Power: Transforming line monitoring for power grid operators | https://www.greenbyiceland.com/sustainability-story/laki-power
- [All About Circuits, November 2025] Laki Power Marries Sensors and Energy Harvesting to Protect the Grid,Exclusive. | https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/laki-power-marries-sensors-and-energy-harvesting-to-protect-the-gridexclusive/
- [Business Wire / STT Info, April 2025] Laki Power Closes Financing Led By Brunnur Ventures | https://www.sttinfo.fi/tiedote/69868127/laki-power-closes-financing-led-by-brunnur-ventures?publisherId=58763726
- [Latitude Media, January 2026] How Iceland is rerouting its climate-tech pipeline in the Trump era. | https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/how-iceland-is-rerouting-its-climate-tech-pipeline-in-the-trump-era/
- [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF, Unknown] Web-grounded company briefing | (Source material)
- [RocketReach, 2026] Employee data for Laki Power | (Source material)