Tantalus Systems soars in market debut

There’s a new clean tech company on the market in Tantalus Systems (Tantalus Systems Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials TSXV:GRID), a provider of smart grid solutions that just debuted on the TSX Venture exchange on Wednesday.

Burnaby, BC’s Tantalus is a utility power tech company with solutions for advanced metering, demand response, data analytics, distribution and automation, street lighting control systems and conservation for water and electric utilities across North America. The company’s customer base features more than 185 utilities.

Capital pool company RiseTech acquired all of Tantalus as part of a qualifying transaction, with Tantalus having recently closed on a private placement for approximately $10 million.

Tantalus was recognized by Export Development Canada this past November as a Cleantech Export Star, signalling its positive impact as one of five tech companies to receive the recognition in 2020.

“Our mission-critical technology solutions improve the environment by enabling utilities to reduce their carbon footprint by being more efficient and preparing their distribution grids for the adoption of distributed energy resources in the form of solar panels, electric vehicles and distributed storage,” said Peter Londa, President & CEO of Tantalus Systems in a press release.

“EDC has been a long-standing partner of Tantalus, enabling us to access the necessary working capital to invest in the growth of our company by recruiting and retaining talented team members and accelerating our R&D initiatives as we strive to help utilities and the communities they serve,” Londa said.

Founded in 1989, Tantalus offers its Tantalus Utility Network or TUNet platform for end-to-end communications to improve efficiency and reliability for utilities. The company reported 2019 revenue of US$41.64 million and a loss of US$599,000.

Tantalus, which has been EBITDA positive for four consecutive years and derives more than 30 per cent of its revenue from SaaS/software and services.

“By leveraging technology, Tantalus empowers its utility customers to access granular data from both legacy meters and cutting-edge two-way intelligent devices to improve customer service, facilitate consumer engagement, realize cost savings and streamline system operations,” read Tantalus’ February 9 press release announcing their listing on the TSXV.

Tantalus closed Wednesday at $3.45 up 53.3 per cent from the RTO transaction price of $2.25.