Bia Energy secures $18.5M to scale energy trading, solar, and software across LATAM
Colombian energy technology company Bia Energy has raised $18.5 million in a funding round led by Kaszek, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, RA Capital, EWA Capital, and the Inter-American Development Bank, among other investors. Total capital raised since the company's 2022 founding now reaches $40 million. The round reflects a strategic pivot from pure energy trading to a diversified group operating three distinct business lines.
Founded by Sebastián Ruales, Leonardo Velázquez, and Guillermo Plaza, Bia began by purchasing wholesale energy and reselling it to enterprises through smart metering, consumption analytics, and a platform for monitoring energy spend. The company currently serves more than 4,000 businesses in Colombia and manages around 50 gigawatt-hours monthly.
The new structure adds distributed generation through small-scale solar projects under an energy communities model. Bia plans to close 2026 with 15 communities of one megawatt each, scaling that figure significantly during 2027 to connect financing, generation, and energy buyers in a single ecosystem.
Why Bia's three-business pivot signals urgent hiring demand for engineers and AI talent
Bia's transformation from energy reseller to multi-business energy group creates immediate pressure to expand technical, commercial, and operational teams. The distributed solar rollout requires project managers, electrical engineers, and regulatory specialists capable of navigating permitting, grid interconnection, and community energy frameworks across multiple jurisdictions. Colombian labor markets will face intensified competition for talent with solar and grid integration experience as Bia accelerates deployment.
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The third business line, Olibia, represents the most significant talent signal. Olibia is a spin-off of software Bia developed internally to manage its own operations. The platform covers customer acquisition, installations, billing, collections, customer service, and energy trading, incorporating artificial intelligence agents. Bia is positioning Olibia as a vertical SaaS solution for utilities, modeled after Kraken, the technology platform that emerged from Octopus Energy and now powers energy retailers globally.
Olibia is already in active conversations with prospective clients in Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Colombia, and aims to extend the solution to gas and water utilities beyond electricity. This regional expansion will require software engineers, AI and machine learning specialists, product managers, customer success teams, and sales professionals fluent in local regulatory environments. Energy tech and SaaS recruitment firms across LATAM should anticipate heightened demand for bilingual technical talent with domain expertise in utilities, billing systems, and enterprise software implementation.
Bia has also strengthened non-dilutive debt lines with BBVA and Santander and secured a pre-approved line of 40 billion Colombian pesos to finance growth without further equity dilution. This structure suggests the company intends to scale rapidly while preserving equity for team incentives and future fundraising, a common precursor to aggressive hiring.
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Olibia's regional expansion and the talent race in energy tech software
Olibia's ambition to replicate the Kraken playbook in Latin America places Bia in direct competition with incumbent utility software vendors and emerging regional SaaS platforms. Success will hinge on recruiting and retaining engineers capable of building modular, API-driven platforms that integrate with legacy utility infrastructure, often characterized by outdated billing systems and fragmented data.
The incorporation of AI agents into Olibia's platform is particularly noteworthy. Energy trading, demand forecasting, and customer service automation all benefit from machine learning models trained on consumption patterns, market pricing, and grid conditions. Building and deploying these agents at scale requires data scientists, MLOps engineers, and software architects with experience in real-time systems and high-availability environments.
Bia's geographic footprint spans five countries with distinct regulatory regimes, grid operators, and market structures. Localizing Olibia for each market demands technical adaptation alongside deep knowledge of tariff structures, renewable energy incentives, and consumer protection rules. Employers seeking to hire in Colombia or expand into adjacent markets should note that Bia's hiring will likely extend beyond Bogotá to include remote and distributed teams across the region, particularly in markets where Olibia is pursuing early customers.
The company's backing by Kaszek, a leading Latin American venture firm with a portfolio spanning fintech, e-commerce, and enterprise software, provides access to a network of operators and advisors who have scaled regional platforms. Endeavor Catalyst's participation connects Bia to a global community of high-growth entrepreneurs, while RA Capital and EWA Capital bring sector-specific expertise in scaling technology-enabled businesses. The Inter-American Development Bank's involvement signals institutional confidence in Bia's model and may facilitate access to project finance for solar infrastructure.
For talent acquisition professionals, Bia's trajectory illustrates how a single funding round can reshape hiring priorities. The shift from domestic energy trader to regional software and infrastructure platform compresses timelines, elevates technical requirements, and broadens geographic scope. Companies operating in overlapping talent pools, particularly those building teams in energy, climate tech, or vertical SaaS, should prepare for increased competition for mid-level and senior engineers, product leaders, and go-to-market professionals with regional experience.
Bia's planned deployment of solar communities and expansion targets will test the company's ability to recruit, onboard, and retain talent at speed. Scaling hardware deployment and software sales simultaneously requires organizational structures that support parallel growth tracks without diluting focus or culture. Employers watching this space should monitor Bia's hiring velocity and geographic expansion as leading indicators of broader talent trends in Latin American energy tech.