Bristol-based smart energy company Cepro has announced that it has exceeded its £600,000 fund raise target to help drive a smart domestic energy transition.
Founded in 2009, Cepro began as a residential PV rooftop metering and software specialist, pivoting to the design and creation of microgrids in 2015.
In 2020 Cepro joined the Energy Systems Catapult’s Energy Launchpad Incubator. From 2021 and 2023 the company delivered over £1.5million of infrastructure for Bristol Energy Cooperative. Current± recently talked to Bristol Energy Coop as part of our series community energy groups in the UK.
The latest round of investment was led by James Hall-Smith and Harry Seekings, infrastructure investors and former principals at InfraRed Capital Partners. As part of the investment, both have joined the board as directors, with Hall-Smith as chair.
Cepro has worked on two successful microgrid projects in Bristol, at Hazelmead and Water Lillies, establishing the Microgrid Foundry in 2019 with Chelwood Community Energy and Bristol Energy Coop, with the aim of building net zero residential housing at scale. Hazelmead is the largest community microgrid in the UK, according to Cepro.
Microgrids combine energy efficiency with on-site renewables, energy storage and smart technologies, to create and store energy on site, only drawing from the grid when necessary.
Damon Rand, co-founder and head of product at Cepro, said: “Securing significant investment means Cepro is now perfectly poised to help drive the UK’s domestic energy transition from a legacy, top-down grid to a digital, bottom-up network.
“The advent of millions of devices operating in a decentralised, interlinked fashion is a transformational shift in the energy sector creating an unparalleled opportunity for new digital approaches to reimagine and revolutionise how we generate, distribute, and consume energy. Cepro is excited to be leading this change.”
Chair of Cepro, James Hall-Smith said: “Cepro is at the vanguard of tackling one of the most difficult aspects of the energy transition in the UK, the decarbonisation of home energy consumption, and the opportunity to make a real difference in this market was too good to miss.”
This seed funding will be used to further develop microgrid technology with user-friendly solutions, expand the adoption of microgrids in the UK construction sector and develop new-build projects, and enable the integration of microgrid technology in existing homes.
