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GridLink
Techstars '23Techstars '23Chicago, US · 11 employees on LinkedIn · 2 known investors
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GridLink provides automation software that remotely diagnoses and resolves EV charger failures without requiring technician dispatch, reducing session failures and lost revenue for charging networks, fleets, and OEMs.
Also known as GridLink Technologies
Founders & leadership
Investors · 2
How we know: open dataset · investor-profiles · research · longjump.vc · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026GridLink is a Chicago-based software company focused on the reliability of electric vehicle charging. Its product, an autonomous operator named Otto, continuously reads data from chargers and the systems they depend on, identifies what failed, and executes remote fixes such as resets, retries and configuration changes, verifying that the charger returned to service before closing the issue. Issues that cannot be resolved in software are escalated to the operator's team, service provider, or a technician from GridLink's partner network with the diagnosis attached.
The platform ingests signals across several layers: the customer's charge point management system (sessions, billing, drivers), connectivity (cellular/SIM, Ethernet/LAN, routers and gateways), charger telemetry, electrical infrastructure (panels, breakers, switchgear, meters), and vehicle-side data such as handshake data and charge curves. Nothing is installed on the charger; GridLink integrates through the API of any CSMS the customer already runs, plus existing ticketing and messaging tools, and acts through those same APIs. Driver- and site-staff-facing alerts are written in plain language, and reports from people standing at a charger are checked against telemetry within the same loop. The company positions the product against NEVI reporting practice, distinguishing reported uptime from first-attempt-to-charge success.
An earlier description of the company characterizes GridLink as an EV fleet charging platform: software that reduces fleet electricity costs and enables fleets to earn revenue through utility demand response and vehicle-to-grid programs, with school districts as the initial wedge market.
Founding story
Joshua Silets, Gabriel Bryk and Ryan McPhail met at a college hackathon at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where Silets was among the first students anywhere to earn a bachelor's degree in artificial intelligence. In fall 2022 the three entered a Computing for Social Good competition, reached the finals and won $10,000 with an energy resource management platform that used an AI model to decide when to use solar power versus battery storage. Encouraged by the school and competition organizers to speak with industry professionals, they joined a startup accelerator at Illinois Tech's Kaplan Institute for Entrepreneurship, where mentoring helped them refine the concept into a charging management platform for electric vehicle fleets. The company later described Otto as the engine it built after hitting the limits of hand-coded fixes on its own charging network.
Business model
GridLink sells software that connects to charging operators' existing management, ticketing and messaging systems via API rather than requiring on-charger hardware or installation; customer engagement begins with a walkthrough in which GridLink connects to charger data and demonstrates failure patterns. In its fleet-charging form, the offering was described as a platform that lowers charging electricity costs and generates new revenue for customers through utility demand response and vehicle-to-grid participation, sold to school districts on a per-district onboarding basis.
Software sold to charging operators and fleets; early customers were paying school districts. Customer value is framed as reduced charging electricity costs, revenue from utility demand response and vehicle-to-grid programs, and avoided technician dispatches and lost charging sessions.
Traction
GridLink reports metrics measured across its deployments: first-attempt-to-charge success rising from 91% to 97% after Otto went live, 60% of tickets resolved automatically without dispatch, and 45% of fixes occurring off-hours. As of May 2025, the company had signed several paying school districts, each onboarded in under two months, with one district expected to earn $5,000 per grid event using five buses. An earlier account described a pilot preparing to launch with an Illinois utility company.
Latest developments
GridLink has introduced Otto, described as an autonomous operator for EV charging, and publishes deployment results including a rise in first-attempt-to-charge success from 91% to 97%. In May 2025, LongJump announced an investment in GridLink alongside Houndsy and Qixent.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
GridLink positions its software as complementary to, not a replacement for, charge point management systems: the CMS starts sessions, handles billing, authentication and load balancing, while Otto focuses solely on keeping chargers completing sessions and acts through the CMS's API. The company contrasts its automated detect-diagnose-fix-verify loop with manual remote restarts available in CMS platforms and with in-house engineering efforts that struggle with the edge cases of each charger-vehicle pair.
GridLink automates the full fault-handling loop — detection, diagnosis, remediation and verification — rather than requiring an operator to notice a fault and trigger a manual remote restart, and it spans layers beyond the charger itself, including connectivity, electrical infrastructure and vehicle-side session data, to name which side failed. It requires no on-charger installation, works through any CSMS with API access, communicates in plain language with drivers and site staff, and attaches diagnoses to escalations so a single site visit carries the fix. The company also distinguishes first-attempt-to-charge success from the uptime figures used in NEVI reporting.
Technology
Otto, GridLink's reliability operator, monitors charger data continuously and correlates signals across the CMS/CSMS, network connectivity, charger telemetry, electrical infrastructure and vehicle-side session data to determine which side of a session failed. It runs automated remediation (resets, retries, configuration changes) through the customer's CSMS API and verifies recovery, tracks each charger's performance over its lifetime to detect gradual degradation such as derating below rated power, and texts on-site reporters to walk them through physical checks when connectivity is lost. The earlier fleet product was built around an AI model determining when to draw on solar versus battery storage and, later, scheduling fleet charging around variable electricity prices and vehicle duty requirements.
Go-to-market
Inbound demonstration requests from the website ("book a walkthrough"), where GridLink connects to a prospect's charger data and shows historical failure patterns before automating fixes. The company also built distribution through university competitions, accelerator programs and early paying customers, and maintains a partner network of field technicians for escalations requiring site visits.
EV charging network operators and site hosts running chargers through a CSMS, along with fleets; the company's earlier fleet-focused positioning targeted operators of large vehicle fleets and, as an initial wedge, school districts with electric buses whose idle time, electrification incentives and predictable schedules suit managed charging.
Geography
Headquartered in Chicago, United States, with early deployments and pilots described in Illinois, including a planned pilot with an Illinois utility and school district customers.
History
GridLink was founded by Illinois Institute of Technology students following competition wins in 2022, including $10,000 from a Computing for Social Good competition and $30,000 from a pitch competition at the end of their accelerator program. The team was the first from Illinois Tech accepted into the Rice University business plan competition, and joined the Fall 2023 Techstars Chicago Accelerator class. By January 2024 a pilot with an Illinois utility company was preparing to launch. In May 2025 LongJump announced an investment in the company. The current product line centers on Otto, an autonomous reliability operator for EV charging.
Risks & controversies
GridLink states that fully offline chargers cannot be restored by software, limiting remote remediation to units that retain connectivity; in those cases it relies on guiding on-site personnel through physical checks. The founding CEO has publicly acknowledged that competitors are entering the EV charging software space and that similar software is expected to be developed by others.
Compiled by commissioned research from 4 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Related companies · 4
Companies working in the same space as GridLink.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsGridLink introduced Otto, a reliability operator that monitors chargers, diagnoses faults across charger, connectivity, infrastructure and vehicle layers, executes automated remote fixes through the customer's CSMS API and verifies recovery.
Chicago-based investor LongJump announced investments in GridLink, Houndsy and Qixent, citing GridLink's fleet charging software, early paying school-district customers and founding team.
As of January 2024, GridLink reported that a pilot program was preparing to launch with an Illinois utility company.
At the conclusion of the Kaplan Institute for Entrepreneurship accelerator at Illinois Tech, the team entered a pitch competition and won $30,000.
$30K source ↗
GridLink was named to the Fall 2023 Techstars Chicago Accelerator class.
Silets and co-founders reached the finals of the Computing for Social Good competition in fall 2022 and won $10,000 for an energy resource management platform.
$10K source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 4
primary sources listed
- GridLinkgridlink.co · web
4 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does GridLink do?
- GridLink builds EV charging reliability software that diagnoses charger faults and fixes them remotely before a technician is dispatched.
- Who founded GridLink?
- GridLink was founded by Joshua Silets.
- Who are GridLink's investors?
- GridLink's investors include LongJump Ventures, Techstars.
- Where is GridLink headquartered?
- GridLink is headquartered in Chicago, US.