Ecosummit TV: We just met Ines Bergmann at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco where she is spending 6 months scouting new innovation that can be brought to Europe. At ECO14 Berlin, Ines pitches the benefits of corporate venture capital provided by E.ON. The German utility is one of the most active corporate co-investors in smart energy startups. E.ON’s added value is rolling out the products of their portfolio companies to their 35 million customers, increasing startup revenues one market after the other. This turns out to be a very useful market entry strategy especially for US startups planning to enter Europe. E.ON’s portfolio includes Orcan Energy (ECO14 Award Bronze), Thermondo, Autogrid, Firstfuel, Sungevity, Opower and Bloom Energy. While many utilities are also working on becoming technology companies, it remains to be seen when E.ON’s CVC activities will result in the first acquisitions.

The ECO14 Berlin presentation slides of Ines are available as PDF.

Tags: Autogrid, Bloom Energy, Cleantech Forum, Cleantech Forum San Francisco, Corporate, Corporate Venture Capital, CVC, ECO14 Award Bronze, ECO14 Berlin, Ecosummit Berlin 2014, Eon, Europe, Firstfuel, Ines Bergmann, Opower, Orcan Energy, San Francisco, Smart Energy Startups, Smart Green Utility, Smart Green VC, Strategic Co-investments, Sungevity, Thermondo