E.On has unveiled a venture capital platform designed to invest in digital technologies and business models.
Future Energy Ventures, as it has been dubbed, is to provide funding, mentoring and connections to accelerate the growth trajectory of digital, scalable and asset-light businesses transforming the energy ecosystem.
It is targeting businesses seeking Series A and beyond funding that have shown “evidence of product-market-fit” and is to led by Ines Bergmann-Nolting and Jan Lozek.
It has been launched with €250 million (£228 million) invested capital in its portfolio, which consists of start-ups previously invested in by E.On and innogy’s venturing entities, which includes Bidgely, Holobuilder, Intertrust, Thermondo and T-Rex.
E.On acquired innogy in 2019, a move that helped its sales and earnings soar in Q1 2020. The acquisition has allowed E.On to bring together an “enviable level of expertise and experience in investing and scaling future energy focused start-ups” from both the E.On and innogy venturing teams to create the new platform.
Future Energy Ventures is to look for both investments and scaling opportunities for its portfolio globally and new investment opportunities from its operational hubs in Germany, Israel and Silicon Valley.
Jan Lozek, managing partner at Future Energy Ventures, said that “significant investment opportunities” are being created by the transformation of the energy ecosystem by technology.
“Not only is the traditional energy supply chain moving towards smart generation and storage, but individuals, buildings and entire cities are becoming smarter and more connected, fundamentally redefining the role of energy in society.”
However, Lozek continued to state that businesses need “more than just money to succeed”, with collaboration, mentoring and partnership opportunities also required, something the new platform will provide.
“Use-case potential forms a key part of our investment decision-making and we aim to facilitate and support pilots and use case roll-outs within E.ON and across our ecosystem of partners for systematic scaling across the portfolio,” Lozek finished.
