Kiwigrid raises Series C to build global energy IoT platform
Kiwigrid raises a double-digit million Euro Series C from Aqton, Stefan Quandt’s family office that also invested in Heliatek’s Series D, Innogy and LG Electronics to build a global energy IoT platform. The Dresden-based smart green startup won the ECO16 Gold Award in the late stage category and has got over 105 employees. High-Tech Gründerfonds, Germany’s largest seed investor with 80% public money, and Innogy Venture Capital, the old corporate VC fund of Innogy that is in its divestment period, sold their shares completely and celebrate a financial exit with positive returns.
Read moreJames Johnston pitches Open Utility
Ecosummit TV: James Johnston pitches Open Utility at ECO13 London. The London-based smart green startup was accelerated by Bethnal Green Ventures in 2013 and recently entered Open Data Institute‘s startup programme. Open Utility creates an online marketplace for buying and selling distributed renewable energy. The idea is that energy consumers can buy electricity directly from local energy producers. However, wholesale energy markets were never designed for millions of independent producers. As a first step, Open Utility launched their website to help electricity producers sell their export power by getting quotes for a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) from utilities. We believe that Open Utility’s vision of a peer-2-peer energy marketplace makes a lot of sense and recommend that you put the startup on your watchlist, too.
Read moreUrban Keussen introduces Connecting Energies, the new CVC of EON
Ecosummit TV: Urban Keussen presents EON’s innovation strategy for its smart green utility transformation and introduces their new corporate venture capital (CVC) activities. At ECO12 Duesseldorf, Urban announced EON’s CVC called “Connecting Energies” that co-invests in mid and late stage startups in Europe and the US that are focused on distributed renewable energy, energy storage, smart grid and customers and data. Moreover, Urban and his team work on a lot of innovation that does not have a business case yet but may well have in the future. Thus they are open for joint projects with smart green startups, especially if their solution is able to accelerate the Energiewende (energy transformation), the key task of all utilities.
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