Derek Modzelewski
| Derek Modzelewski | |
| Occupation | Co-founder and CTO of Rewbi |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founding Rewbi, an AI-powered battery storage optimization company |
| Alma mater | Johns Hopkins University |
Derek Modzelewski is an American software engineer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Rewbi, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to optimize the revenue of grid-connected battery storage systems. Rewbi was part of Y Combinator's Summer 2024 batch.[1]
Early life and education
Modzelewski attended Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, as well as a Master of Science in Computer Science, between 2014 and 2018.
Career
Modzelewski began his career with internships at major technology companies. He worked as a software engineering intern at Microsoft in 2016 and at Google in 2017. Prior to these roles, he served as a database analyst at The Princeton Festival from 2012 to 2014.
After completing his studies at Johns Hopkins, Modzelewski joined Meta as a software engineer, where he worked from 2018 to 2022. He subsequently worked as a software engineer at Adept AI Labs, an AI research company, from 2022 to 2023.
In 2024, Modzelewski co-founded Rewbi alongside Thomas Marge. The company, based in San Francisco, develops AI systems designed to optimize the dispatch schedules of grid-connected battery storage assets. Rewbi's core business model involves renting battery storage capacity for a fixed monthly fee and then using its AI platform to generate revenue by charging batteries when electricity prices are low and discharging them when prices are high. The company states that its AI-driven approach can achieve approximately twice the revenue compared to traditional methods, which typically rely on human traders manually tracking grid conditions.[2]
Battery storage systems can adjust their power output significantly faster than conventional power generation sources such as hydro, coal, nuclear, or natural gas, with the ability to switch from full-speed charging to full-speed discharging in under a minute. Electricity prices on the grid can change every five minutes, sometimes by 300% or more. Rewbi's AI platform tracks hundreds of live inputs simultaneously to make dispatch decisions faster and with lower overhead than human operators.
In May 2025, Rewbi announced the completion of a $4 million seed funding round to support its efforts in building AI-optimized battery storage operations and enabling a cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable power grid.
References
- ↑ "Rewbi – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Rewbi – AI Battery Storage Optimization". 'Rewbi}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.