Most energy storage companies are trying to build a bigger box. Novele is trying to make the box disappear. Its wedge is a lithium-ion battery called the EnergyBoard, a roughly two-inch-thick unit designed to be mounted on an interior wall like a piece of office art [Heatmap, September 2026]. The hardware is only half the bet. The other half is BoardOS, an AI layer that promises to turn a building’s entire electrical system into a grid-responsive asset, storing power when it’s cheap and selling it back when it’s expensive [ESG Today, October 2026]. It’s a quiet, distributed approach to a problem that usually involves shipping shipping containers.
Novele’s recent $17 million Series A, led by boisei labs, is a vote of confidence in that approach [ESG Today, October 2026]. The round, which included participation from Locke Health, Arup Ventures, and construction firm Barton Malow, is earmarked for hiring, expanding installations, and further training the AI models [PropTech Connect, October 2026]. For a company founded in 2023, it’s a significant step out of the lab and into the field.
The hardware wedge
The core insight is physical, not digital. Commercial real estate is notoriously difficult to retrofit. Ripping up floors for conduit or pouring new concrete pads for container-sized batteries is a non-starter for occupied offices, hospitals, and retail spaces. Novele’s EnergyBoard is built for that constraint. The company claims it can be installed in hours without major infrastructure overhauls, a claim that, if true, changes the unit economics of adding storage to an existing building [Citybiz, October 2026]. The system has also secured key safety certifications, including UL 1973 and UL 9540, which are critical for insurers and building codes [Novele, ghost.io, April 2025].
The software layer
A battery on a wall is just a battery. Novele’s ambition is to turn a building into a smart, autonomous node on the grid. That’s where BoardOS comes in. The software is designed to analyze and control power use from the individual circuit level up to a portfolio view, predicting demand spikes and automatically responding to real-time energy prices, building occupancy, and grid signals [PropTech Connect, October 2026]. The goal is to shift from manual, scheduled load-shedding to a system that constantly optimizes for cost and carbon, and can even generate revenue through grid services.
The team and the traction
The leadership brings together an unconventional mix of backgrounds. CEO Charles Conwell is a former professional boxer and U.S. Olympian who later worked in commercial real estate, a path that gives him a visceral understanding of the customer’s physical and financial constraints [The Athletic, October 2020]. Heading R&D as CTO is Dr. Geng Niu, a retired automotive veteran with experience developing high-performance propulsion systems [Geng Niu, Ph.D. - Novele | LinkedIn].
Public traction metrics are sparse, but signals point to early enterprise adoption. LinkedIn posts from team members reference a live, operational system embedded within the portfolio of "one of the largest companies in America" and a pipeline engaging more than 2,000 buildings [Robert Li - AMIP Management | LinkedIn] [Udit Mody - Novele | LinkedIn]. The Series A also included investment from several unnamed commercial real estate owners and operators, suggesting some are putting capital behind the product, not just piloting it [ESG Today, October 2026].
| Role | Name | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Co-founder & CEO | Charles Conwell | Former professional boxer, U.S. Olympian, commercial real estate professional. |
| Co-founder & CTO | Lorenzo Zemella | Co-founded Novele in 2015, served as CTO [Lorenzo Zemella - Founder at Novele |
| Chief Technology Officer | Dr. Geng Niu | Retired automotive veteran, background in high-performance vehicle propulsion. |
Where the wheels could come off
The bet is elegant, but the path is lined with well-funded incumbents and skeptical procurement officers. Novele must prove its system at scale, in buildings with wildly different electrical loads and aging infrastructure. The AI’s predictions need to be bulletproof to win the trust of facility managers who hate surprises. Furthermore, while the thin form factor is an advantage, it inherently limits energy density compared to larger systems, meaning more units,and more installation points,are needed for meaningful capacity.
- The scaling equation. Installing one unit in hours is plausible. Installing hundreds across a portfolio, each integrated with a building’s unique electrical panel, is a different kind of operational lift. Novele will need to build a deployment machine as sophisticated as its software.
- The incumbent moat. Large-scale battery storage providers and building management system giants already have deep relationships with real estate investment trusts and corporate sustainability teams. They can bundle storage with other services, making a standalone, wall-mounted unit a harder sell.
- The revenue model. The value of grid services is highly regional and dependent on utility programs that can change. Banking a business model on demand response requires navigating a patchwork of regulations and market rules.
The company’s most plausible answer is that its combined hardware-software package creates a unique offering. It’s not just selling kilowatt-hours of storage; it’s selling a turnkey system that claims to make a building smarter and more valuable with minimal disruption. That’s a compelling story for a property owner facing rising energy costs and decarbonization mandates.
The next twelve months
The $17 million gives Novele runway to move from promising pilots to referenceable deployments. The key milestones to watch will be named customer announcements, particularly from the Fortune 50 segment hinted at in its pipeline, and concrete data on performance and savings. The company will also need to demonstrate that BoardOS can deliver on its autonomous promises, moving from a smart dashboard to a truly self-optimizing system.
On paper, the math has a certain appeal. Take a 100,000-square-foot office building with a peak demand of 500 kW. If Novele’s system can reliably shave 20% off that peak during the ten highest-priced hours of the month, the savings on demand charges alone could run into five figures annually, before any revenue from grid programs. That’s the unit-economic story that turns a climate tech product into a facilities budget line item.
For now, Novele is a contender in a crowded ring. Its success won’t be measured in venture rounds, but in its ability to displace the conventional wisdom that big buildings need big, ugly batteries in the parking lot. The incumbent it must beat isn’t another startup; it’s the inertia of the built environment itself.
Sources
- [ESG Today, October 2026] Novele Raises $17 Million to Turn Buildings into Distributed Energy Assets | https://www.esgtoday.com/novele-raises-17-million-to-turn-buildings-into-distributed-energy-assets/
- [Heatmap, September 2026] The Startup Raising $17 Million for Super-Thin, Wall-Mounted Batteries | https://heatmap.news/climate-tech/novele-series-a
- [PropTech Connect, October 2026] Novele Closes $17M Series A to Scale Autonomous Energy Intelligence for Commercial Buildings | https://proptechconnect.com/novele-closes-17m-series-a-to-scale-autonomous-energy-intelligence-for-commercial-buildings/
- [Citybiz, October 2026] Energy Intelligence Firm Novele Closes $17M Series A Led by Boise Labs | https://www.citybiz.co/article/913624/energy-intelligence-firm-novele-closes-17m-series-a-led-by-boise-labs/
- [Novele, ghost.io, April 2025] EnergyBoard certifications | https://www.novele.com/news
- [The Athletic, October 2020] Q&A: Charles Conwell opens up about fighting one year since Patrick Day’s death | https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2118221/2020/10/06/qa-charles-conwell-opens-up-about-fighting-one-year-since-patrick-days-death/
- [Geng Niu, Ph.D. - Novele | LinkedIn] Profile | https://www.linkedin.com/in/gengniu
- [Lorenzo Zemella - Founder at Novele | The Org] Profile | https://theorg.com/org/novele/org-chart/lorenzo-zemella
- [Robert Li - AMIP Management | LinkedIn] Post referencing Novele pipeline | https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-li-amip
- [Udit Mody - Novele | LinkedIn] Post referencing live deployment | https://www.linkedin.com/in/udit-mody