Paces

Paces is an agentic AI company building software and services to accelerate power and energy infrastructure project development — using AI-powered analysis to help developers, utilities, and investors evaluate sites for renewable energy projects, navigate permitting and interconnection processes, and compress the years-long development timelines that constrain clean energy deployment. Founded in 2022 by Charles Bai and James McWalter in New York and backed by Y Combinator S22, Navitas Capital, and Resolute Ventures with $13+ million raised, Paces operates with a 40-person team.\n\nPaces's platform combines GIS data (land parcels, grid infrastructure, transmission lines, environmental constraints), regulatory databases (permitting requirements, environmental review timelines), and AI analysis to give energy developers a comprehensive site screening and development intelligence tool. For a solar developer evaluating 500 potential sites, Paces can identify which sites have favorable interconnection costs, existing transmission access, minimal permitting obstacles, and land availability — prioritizing the most viable projects from a large universe in a fraction of the time manual screening requires.\n\nIn 2025, Paces also offers Fractional Development Services (FDS) — providing senior energy development expertise as a service to developers who need experienced project management and regulatory navigation without hiring full-time senior staff. This services component generates near-term revenue while the software platform scales. Paces competes with clean energy data platforms like LevelTen Energy, Eniram (DNV), and specialized renewable energy development software for project intelligence. The energy transition requires tripling global clean energy capacity by 2030 according to IEA targets, making the bottleneck of slow project development timelines a critical problem to solve. The 2025 strategy focuses on expanding data coverage, growing enterprise software contracts with major renewable energy developers, and scaling the Fractional Development Services for mid-sized project developers.