ABB has invested in Edge compute company Pratexo.

The company this week announced it was investing in a strategic partnership with Pratexo, an ‘Edge-to-cloud acceleration platform’ company.

The partnership involves ABB taking a minority investment in Pratexo through ABB’s venture capital unit, ABB Technology Ventures (ATV). Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

Founded in 2019, Pratexo offers Edge software, Asus-made Edge appliances with AI services – including image recognition, object tracking, and fault detection – as well as grid monitoring and alerts services. The nodes can integrate with public clouds or operate locally as a standalone "microcloud."

ABB said its Electrification Service will leverage Pratexo’s no-code development platform, Pratexo Studio, to help customers deploy Edge-based networks and solution architectures.

One example is customized, decentralized software solutions that allow distribution grid operators to manage, monitor, and assess electrical systems in real time, identify potential machine faults and optimize the network in response to changes in power availability and consumption.

“We are in a unique position to support customers in their digital transformation regardless of what stage they are at. Investing in and partnering with innovative startups like Pratexo advances our technological services capabilities to provide enhanced industry 4.0 business outcomes to our customers,” said Stuart Thompson, president of ABB’s electrification service division.

“With the open technology stack from Pratexo, we can deploy and scale the transition seamlessly, securely, and in a bespoke manner.”

“The last 20 years of IT have been mostly about centralizing computing into the cloud. The next 10 will be about balancing that with a hybrid Edge-to-cloud approach – doing the right compute at the right place and at the right level. Our close collaboration with ABB will further enable and accelerate that transition,” added Blaine Mathieu, CEO of Pratexo.

The partnership is ABB’s sixth venture capital investment of 2023. Since its formation in 2009, ABB’s venture capital unit ATV has invested around $300 million into startups in the fields of electrification, robotics, automation, and motion.

Crunchbase suggests Pratexo has raised $3.5m to date from its 2021 seed round. Investors in that round included Northscaler and Raiven Capital.