Ex-PG&E Engineer Secures $26 M to Map Hidden Utility Infrastructure

Josh Mackanic left a decade-long engineering stint at Pacific Gas and Electric after experiencing a three-day, $60,000 delay caused by an unknown underground pipe. To address the broader issue of “utility strikes” that affect the industry, he launched CivilGrid in 2020, a platform that consolidates disparate data on underground assets and presents it like a “Google Maps for what’s underground.” The service is now used by PG&E, civil-engineering firms and municipal agencies, and a PG&E case study showed $60 million in avoided paving expenses across 1,600 gas projects.

CivilGrid has just closed a $26 million Series A financing round, led by Spark Capital with participation from Afore, A*, Ford Street Ventures, SNR and Energy Impact Partners, whose utility-linked LPs signal industry confidence. The company plans to broaden its customer base and eventually automate permit filing based on its data set. Mackanic envisions extending the platform to tackle other regulatory bottlenecks that slow construction in the United States.