Artificial intelligence can help reduce power outages caused by the impact of climate phenomena such as the El Niño pattern on electricity grids. Brazilian startup Fu2re has developed an artificial intelligence and computer vision platform—technology that enables computers to interpret visual data—to identify risks across overhead power distribution networks. The innovation has attracted interest from Europe, where the company plans to expand later this year.
To date, Fu2re has collected 60 million images covering 40,000 kilometers of power networks operated by utilities including Light, Equatorial, Neoenergia, EDP, and Copel.
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“Utilities are already preparing for this expected super El Niño to avoid disruptions such as falling trees that bring down power lines and interrupt electricity supply,” Fu2re co-founder and partner André Sih told Valor.
A recent example of the impact of extreme weather on power supply occurred in December, when a blackout affected 2.2 million properties in the São Paulo metropolitan area, served by Enel.
Fu2re’s monitoring system relies on a proprietary AI model that analyzes images captured by high-definition cameras mounted on the roofs of vehicles traveling through city streets. The platform identifies different types of cables—including telecommunications lines—as well as utility poles, public lighting infrastructure, illegal power connections, and trees that require preventive trimming. “We can also determine how much electricity a city such as Rio de Janeiro consumes for public lighting,” Sih said.
The technology has drawn interest from the governments of Switzerland and Luxembourg, which have invited the company to establish operations in their countries.
By the end of the year, Fu2re plans to open subsidiaries in Bern and Luxembourg. The company will invest €1.6 million (R$9.4 million, based on the Brazilian Central Bank’s exchange rate) of its own capital through 2029. It will also receive additional funding from the two governments, although the amount has not been disclosed. In return, Fu2re will develop AI technologies focused on critical infrastructure that will be patented by those countries.
“For us, this is an important competitive advantage because it allows us to develop products not only for the European market but also for the global market,” Sih said. For the partner countries—among the world’s wealthiest—attracting deep-tech startups is a way to strengthen their position in the global AI race.
“Europe understands that if it does not invest heavily in artificial intelligence, it risks falling behind a race led by the United States and China, with the possibility of losing its AI sovereignty,” he said.
Fu2re has also developed AI projects with Portuguese energy company EDP in both Brazil and Portugal. The startup is currently awaiting the outcome of a public tender to monitor EDP’s electricity network in an area near Lisbon.
In the oil and gas sector, Fu2re has developed AI projects for Petrobras and the sanitation company BRK. It has also deployed another computer vision model in the LPG cylinder refilling process for Supergasbras, part of the Dutch group SHV Energy.
The application monitors, in real time, both cylinder quality and the precise volume of gas required for refilling. “Because cylinders always return with a small amount of residual gas, the AI calculates exactly how much gas is needed to complete the refill,” Sih said. “By analyzing the images, the system also identifies the cylinder’s expiration date and detects defects that require it to be removed from circulation.”
Fu2re was founded in 2004 by Sih together with co-founders Rodrigo Ferreira, the company’s COO and CFO, and Thiago Cazes, CTO and head of research and development.
The business gained traction in 2018, four years before generative AI entered the mainstream. “Between 2004 and 2018, AI was viewed as science fiction, and there was virtually no market for it in Brazil,” Sih said. In 2021, the company’s AI platform caught the attention of Nvidia, which selected Fu2re for its Inception accelerator program for startups focused on artificial intelligence, data science, and robotics.
In July last year, Fu2re raised R$12.5 million from Copel Ventures—the innovation investment arm of Brazilian utility Copel—and Brazilian venture capital firm Indicator Capital.
