€30m · Other round · Software · Paris, France
Image: Alexandre Alloul, via Elax Energie.
Paris-based Elax Energie, which connects electric water heaters to software for energy savings and grid flexibility, has raised €30m in a funding round from Noria and Crédit Mutuel Impact through its Fonds Révolution Environnementale et Solidaire. The company said the capital will accelerate deployments with social-housing landlords, support the electrification of collective boiler rooms and launch Elax Pro, a network for plumbers, electricians and heating engineers serving individual homes.
Turning water heaters into flexible grid assets
Elax's connected controller adjusts when and how an electric water heater runs while keeping hot water available. The same connection lets landlords monitor equipment, detect scale build-up and plan maintenance. Elax says its French-made device now serves nearly 100,000 homes across more than 100 social-housing landlords and cuts annual energy use for domestic hot water by 20% to 25%. Those are company-reported figures, but the deployment route has external history: Action Logement selected Elax in 2023 for a programme that then targeted around 140,000 homes.
The commercial mechanism combines savings for building owners and residents with flexibility for the electricity system. Water can be heated when supply is abundant, then stored for later use; a large installed base therefore becomes a controllable pool of demand rather than a collection of isolated appliances. Selling through social landlords gives Elax a route to deploy across many homes through a single customer relationship. Its partnership with EDF also makes the controller eligible for France's energy-savings certificate scheme, which the company says lowers the landlord's investment.
Two new routes beyond social housing
The round finances two different expansion bets. For collective boiler rooms, Elax plans to shift part of heat production from gas to electricity when power is plentiful. For individual homes, Elax Pro moves distribution to local tradespeople who already install and maintain heating equipment. The first expands the type of load the software controls; the second adds a more fragmented customer channel than the landlord market.
That makes execution about more than installing additional controllers. Elax must prove reliable control across more complex collective systems while giving independent installers a repeatable product and service model. The company plans to recruit 30 people by the end of 2027 across R&D, engineering, operations, sales and field deployment. Noria said Crédit Mutuel Impact joined it as a shareholder in September 2026; the public funding announcement followed on 20 October.
