Josh Mackanic left his job at Pacific Gas and Electric after realizing that the company didn't have visibility into the underground infrastructure it managed. He now runs a startup called CivilGrid, which aims to solve this problem using AI and data analytics.

Utility companies like PG&E only have visibility into the many miles of electric and gas lines they own and operate. Pipes carrying sewage or water belong to other companies, and so does the information about where exactly they are. This leads to around 200,000 so-called “utility strikes” every year.

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Fundamental Problem with Utility Companies

CivilGrid gathers disparate data regarding utility assets, property ownership, and environmental regulations and bundles it into what Mackanic cheekily refers to as “Google Maps for what’s underground.” It then sells access to governments, civil engineering firms, and utilities — including his former employer.

CivilGrid has raised a $26 million Series A funding round led Mackanic said he wants to bring on more customers and, eventually, start tackling other red tape problems that make it so hard to build things in the U.S.

Mackanic performed a case study with PG&E, which helped him understand how CivilGrid could be used He wants to bring on more customers and start tackling other red tape problems that make it so hard to build things in the U.S.

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CivilGrid’s Solution

Mackanic left his job at PG&E after realizing that the company didn't have visibility into the underground infrastructure it managed. He now runs a startup called CivilGrid, which aims to solve this problem using AI and data analytics.

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Josh Mackanic left a 10-year engineering career at Pacific Gas and Electric because he kept thinking about what the utility company doesn’t know about what’s buried underground.

“I had a job that got shut down because a pipe was in the excavation [that] we didn’t know about. Fortunately, we saw it before we impacted it,” he informed TechCrunch. “But then there was this three-day ordeal of running around [asking] like: ‘Whose pipe is this?

Can we tap it? Can we not? What’s in it?’” Mackanic eventually got the answer, but it took three days, a delay that cost $60,000.