From Pitch Fest Winner to Trusted Partner: How CivilGrid is Helping PG&E Build Smarter

When Josh Mackanic walked into PG&E's 2023 Innovation Pitch Fest, he wasn't a stranger to the company or the work. 

Before co-founding CivilGrid, Mackanic spent nearly a decade as a PG&E engineer, managing more than $500 million in infrastructure projects. He understood firsthand how much teams can spend hunting for critical project information, like underground utility locations, environmental constraints, permitting requirements and geotechnical data, before construction even begins.

This time, he came back with a company built to solve that problem. 

CivilGrid, pitched at PG&E’s Innovation Pitch Fest, earned a spot to co-develop with PG&E teams, and got to work. Two years later, the platform is used daily by PG&E’s gas and land teams to help plan projects with better information from the start.

Smarter planning, fewer surprises

Planning infrastructure work often means pulling information multiple systems, databases and public sources. That process can take weeks, and even then, teams can still encounter costly surprises once work begins in the field. 

That’s why PG&E began working with CivilGrid. It helps address that challenge by bringing fragmented project data and manual workflows into a single shared digital map. The platform helps teams identify underground utilities, permitting needs and other project risks earlier, giving partners and project teams a clearer picture before crews break ground.  

"Californians rely on us to deliver safe, reliable energy at a price they can afford," said Christine Cowsert, senior vice president of Enterprise Business and Technology Modernization. "Tools like CivilGrid help our teams plan smarter, avoid unnecessary delays, and control costs — all while keeping safety front and center." 

Since deploying CivilGrid in 2025, PG&E has saved money, delivered projects faster and avoided cost overruns:

• $60M+ in paving conflicts eliminated through strategic portfolio optimization

• 40% reduction in field research and survey activities

• Up to 4 months faster project scoping, planning, and design timelines

A Pitch Fest partnership in action

CivilGrid's story is the kind of partnership Pitch Fest was designed to create. 

Pitch Fest is PG&E's startup competition for companies that can help solve real utility challenges. PG&E puts some of its toughest problems on the table, then works with selected companies to test, refine and scale practical solutions. The 2025 event drew more than 400 applicants and 57 finalists. 

For startups, the real value is access to real utility problems, real users and a path to field deployment. This can be the difference between an interesting idea and a scaled business. 

And when a startup, like CivilGrid, helps solve a real operational challenge, everybody wins: the company grows, PG&E gets a better planning tool and customers benefit from safer and more efficient projects.

"PG&E's willingness to surface real challenges and invest in innovators sets an example for the industry," said Mackanic, now CEO and Co-founder of CivilGrid. 

CivilGrid is just one example of how Pitchfest can turn a promising solution into a working partnership. The program helps PG&E surface hard problems, back the innovators who can solve them, and turn good ideas into real value for the communities we serve.

To learn more about PG&E’s innovation and R&D efforts visit www.pge.com/innovation or www.pge.com/epic and read about CivilGrid's Series A announcement.