HData announces business intelligence partnership with Alabama Power, relocation to Birmingham

HData, an early-stage regulatory technology startup delivering automated compliance and instant business intelligence to the U.S. regulated energy industry, announced a strategic partnership with Alabama Power Company and relocation to Birmingham.

Hudson Hollister, HData founder and CEO, made the announcement Dec. 7 from the stage at the Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator’s Demo Day. The event celebrated the completion of a three-month startup program, sponsored by Alabama Power, in which HData was one of nine companies selected to participate from across the U.S. and Canada.

“Because of Alabama Power and Techstars, Birmingham, Alabama is the best place in the world to build an early-stage company focused on utilities,” said Hollister.

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HData’s platform uses regulatory data to automate compliance and business intelligence for electric utilities, gas companies and oil pipelines. The mission of the company, founded in 2018, is to digitize the interface between the regulatory and private sectors by creating and scaling platforms that take advantage of digital reporting.

Together, Hollister and co-founder Yuval Lubowich, along with their growing team and board, are a powerhouse of regulatory technology (regtech) expertise. Hollister worked as a securities lawyer, regulator and congressional investigator before founding The Data Coalition, the world’s largest open data trade association, and serving as its first executive director in 2015. He also founded The Data Foundation, a research nonprofit, before starting HData. Lubowich, a Techstars alum with multiple successful exits, brings more than 25 years of product development and software as a service (SaaS) experience to HData. Prior to HData, Yuval was the founder and CEO of AutoDo-It and headed LivePerson’s Automotive Product House.

“In 2015, when I ran the Data Coalition, I introduced colleagues at the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) to XBRL and recommended that they should replace static documents with structured data,” Hollister said. “That groundwork enabled us to be the first RegTech company in the energy industry and build the only platform that both automates compliance and extracts business intelligence.”

Following the Techstars accelerator program, HData will deliver its Data Hub solution to provide instant peer comparisons and financial insights from regulatory data to all Alabama Power offices. Throughout 2022, Alabama Power and HData will work closely together to design HData Insights, the next generation of energy regulatory business intelligence, to bring smart dashboards and predictive analytics to inform financial management and regulatory compliance.

“The Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator has connected us to a vibrant startup ecosystem here in Birmingham,” said Lubowich, a two-time alum of Techstars accelerator programs. “Thanks to Alabama Power’s support and the accelerator’s hard work, there is no better place to transform the way energy companies generate and use their regulatory data. We look forward to joining that ecosystem, building a world-class team here and growing the future of regulatory data as a Birmingham company.”

Alabama Power’s participation in HData’s $3 million seed funding round, led by Hyde Park Venture Partners and Firebrand VC, alongside other local and national investors, further demonstrates the company’s commitment to leveraging new technologies to simplify compliance and transform energy regulatory data into actionable business insights.

“Alabama Power is committed to deploying technological innovation to better serve our customers and elevate the state,” said Alabama Power Assistant Treasurer Chris Blake. “Our support for the Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator and our partnership with HData exemplify that commitment. HData digitally transforms the way we interact with certain regulatory data, providing better insight and creating a holistic view of our industry.”

HData also announced it has open positions, with the aim to recruit locally.

To learn more about HData, visit hdata.us.