Silicon Valley Bank has provided $2m of venture debt to California-based Torch Systems, alongside $9.5m in equity raised via SAFE notes, bringing the financing to $11.5m in total, CEO Vasya Tremsin told Axios Pro. SVB is a division of First Citizens Bank.
The SAFE investors were Khosla Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Construct Capital and Starship Ventures. No lead investor was named. Terms of the debt were not disclosed.
Torch Systems is a remote monitoring provider for electric grids and other infrastructure. The company has expanded from wildfire detection, which Tremsin described as a “smoke detector for the outdoors”, into monitoring overheating equipment, encroaching vegetation, weather, humidity and air quality.
Torch Systems works chiefly with utilities and municipalities, charging an annual fee. It has deployed 300 TerraNode units across seven US states, with another 800 backordered, according to Tremsin.
The company, formerly called Torch Sensors, previously raised about $2m, according to Axios. Axios Pro first reported last year that, under that name, the company was raising up to $10m.
Torch Systems expects profitability “within 2027”, Tremsin told Axios Pro. The company is headquartered in Lafayette, California.