Being conscious of the impact of the current crisis on its young businesses, ENGIE New Ventures, ENGIE’s Corporate Venture Capital arm, remains committed to supporting the startups in its portfolio as best as possible, and is still open to opportunities to invest in the zero-carbon transition. The fund recently achieved its 25th direct investment since its creation in 2014, in H2SITE, a startup specialized in the decentralized production of high purity hydrogen.
With a total size of €180 million, the fund reaffirms its ambition to support innovation through minority equity investments in new innovative startups, despite the health crisis period. It is thus pursuing its mission to develop new expertise by being as close as possible to disruptive technologies and business models with high growth potential, that may be part of ENGIE’s activities over the next few years.
So far, the fund has invested €125 million in 25 startups active in strategic sectors for ENGIE: green gases (hydrogen, biogas…) carbon capture and usage, energy efficiency, digital applications for industrial services, renewable and decentralized energies, energy storage and management, and green mobility.
“By acquiring options in innovative technologies and startups, we want to contribute to inventing the business models of tomorrow, dedicated to ENGIE’s customers and to the energy transition. Our involvement goes far beyond a simple financial contribution to innovative ventures; we want to create real partnerships for a mutual beneficial long-term collaboration. In times of crisis, we want to support the needs of our startups as much as possible and to accompany them in the recovery phase,” explains Johann BOUKHORS, Managing Director of ENGIE New Ventures.
Hundreds of startups reviewed each year
Since the creation of the investment fund in 2014, several hundred startups whose projects fit in with ENGIE Group’s innovation dynamic have been reviewed each year. The main investment criterion is the existence of a disruptive technology or business model with high growth potential (Series A, B or C) and which can be scaled through collaborations in partnership with ENGIE.
Projects carried out in collaboration with the ENGIE teams
Beyond an investment in equity (around EUR 5 million on average), ENGIE New Ventures provides its startups portfolio with ENGIE’s business expertise and foster collaboration opportunities with the entities and clients of the Group. With a multi-local presence (Europe, USA, Asia, Latin America and Israel) and dedicated governance, ENGIE New Ventures acts as a catalyst for innovation for the benefit of ENGIE’s zero-carbon transition strategy.
ENGIE New Ventures supports the development of promising startups, working hand in hand with ENGIE’s teams. Here are some recent examples:
Redaptive Inc. works in collaboration with ENGIE in North America and ENGIE Impact teams to offer turnkey energy efficiency services to its clients. The start-up works through a data-driven approach for the development of energy efficiency improvement programs, including HVAC systems (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) and LED lighting.
By offering a second life to electric vehicle batteries, Connected Energy Ltd. has enabled ENGIE to develop electricity storage projects in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and in Belgium with Umicore.
Kiwi Power, a platform of distributed energy, manages in a simple and reliable way the flexibility of energy resources and demand (storage, renewable power generation, consumption) in order to maximize their value. It provides demand-side and battery management services to ENGIE entities in France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands.
With Vyntelligence, ENGIE brings a technical and innovative solution to improve buildings’ operations, thanks to video technologies and Artificial Intelligence, through a minority investment in the startup and a technological and commercial partnership.
About ENGIE New Ventures
ENGIE New Ventures (ENV) is the Corporate Venture Capital arm of ENGIE. ENV is a €180 million investment fund focused on making minority investments in disruptive startups. ENV has deployed since 2014 €125 million of capital across 25 direct investments, in innovative startups leading the energy transition, and active in energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy storage and demand response management, mobility and IoT. ENV’s activities are represented in Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, Santiago, Mexico and Tel Aviv. Please visit for more information: www.engieventures.com.
