The story of Entras is not a typical startup narrative. There was no ‘growth at all costs’, no technology built for its own sake. Instead, it began with a fascination for systems and with a fundamental question. How does something as essential as energy truly work and what happens when that system must inevitably change?
In the late 1990s, Jeroen Vanfraechem deliberately chose to specialise in energy engineering. Not because it was trendy, quite the opposite. At the time, the sector seemed stable, even static. Monopolies dominated national markets, energy prices were predictable and little appeared to be shifting. Yet that apparent stability was precisely what intrigued him. “One of the largest machines humanity has ever built is the electricity system,” he explains, “And it is never purely technical. It is economic, political, and geopolitical at the same time.”
When renewables enter the system
During his years at Siemens, Jeroen worked at the intersection of grid infrastructure and power generation, high-voltage networks, conventional power plants, and later wind energy. From that vantage point, he witnessed renewable energy gradually entering the system and saw firsthand how few structural answers existed to the fundamental question how to keep a system reliable when production becomes increasingly unpredictable?
“It’s the kind of question people bring up at family gatherings,” he says with a smile, “What happens when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow? As if engineers hadn’t considered that first.” What frustrated him was not the question itself, but the absence of systemic solutions. It became clear that integrating renewables would not be a matter of minor adjustments. The entire energy system would need to be reorganised at its core.
From corporate innovation to entrepreneurship
By 2014, the tension had become tangible. Within a multinational environment, innovation often moves cautiously and incrementally. Together with Frank Alaerts, a former fellow engineering student with extensive operational experience in managing power plants, Jeroen decided to take a different path. Their mission was straightforward, make the energy transition work for industry.
Entras did not start as a software company. It began as a specialised consultancy, supporting industrial investments in CHP installations, electrification projects and broader energy strategies. The projects were successful, but they also revealed a pattern. Flexibility was no longer a marginal assumption in financial models. It was increasingly becoming the foundation of economic viability.
That was the moment when traditional consulting reached its limits. “You can only model so much in Excel,” Jeroen explains, “At some point, you need to simulate complex installations while accounting for price volatility, operational constraints and market dynamics all at the same time.”
In 2018, Entras made its first major strategic shift, evolving from classic consulting into model-based consulting. With their first hire, the team began developing simulation models capable of analysing industrial sites within real energy markets. What started as an internal analytical tool gradually became the intellectual core of the company.
From algorithms to scalable software
The real breakthrough came around 2020, triggered by a confronting question. Once these installations are built, who actually operates them in real time? Designing studies and business cases is one thing. Making real-time decisions in a volatile market environment is something entirely different. That insight marked the next strategic step and the key to scalability.
It required a fundamental choice, to build software. Not just algorithms, but robust, secure platforms capable of running continuously and remaining accessible to non-engineers. That meant different profiles, different investments and ultimately external financing.
In 2023, Entras welcomed its first investor, someone with a similar background in the energy sector and a deep understanding of the timing involved. “He understood that we were early,” Jeroen says. “And that this would require patience.”
From deep expertise to scalable impact
Today, Entras stands at a new crossroads, transforming deep expertise into scalable impact. The mission has not changed, the form has evolved. Flexibility is no longer a theoretical concept. It has become a real-time control instrument.
“The energy transition needs to be solved before I retire,” Jeroen reflects, “And if Entras can contribute to that in a way that truly works for industry then this journey will have been worthwhile.”
