E.ON backs Future Energy Ventures on launch of Independent Climate Tech Fund
The Fund seeks to become Europe’s leading venture capital investor focused on the energy transition
BERLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–E.ON’s current venturing team, Future Energy Ventures, has established a new, independent Luxembourg-domiciled venture capital fund, Future Energy Ventures Fund I SCA SICAV-RAIF (the Fund). This launch marks a new chapter for the venturing team in its mission to create a decarbonized future through Europe’s leading energy transition venture fund. E.ON, one of Europe’s largest operators of energy networks and energy-related infrastructure, has committed to be an anchor investor to the Fund.
In an important step towards the first closing of the Fund and the venturing team’s planned independent future outside of E.ON, BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, has granted a license to a new independent company, Future Energy Ventures GmbH (FEV), with Jan Lozek as founder and managing partner. The BaFin license enables FEV to accelerate raising capital from investors and fulfils the key pre-requisite for FEV to act as an advisor on the management of the Fund.
The Fund will focus primarily on Series A and B investments in digital and scalable business models that aim to transform the traditional energy value chain towards net zero. The Fund has three core investment themes within the energy sector: future energy, future cities, and future technologies. The Fund aims to funnel 100% of its capital toward sustainable investments, in accordance with Article 9 of the SFDR regulation. It will target the innovation hubs of Europe, North America and Israel. With a total target size of €250 million, the Fund is expected to hold its final closing in 2023.
The team that will be moving to FEV have built a strong reputation and enviable track record through their venturing activities while at E.ON, creating a vibrant portfolio and achieving remarkable successes. This includes the recent $60 million Series C funding round by Buildots – a construction tech start-up with an addressable market of $1.3 trillion in the U.S. alone – as well as a number of high-profile exits such as that of Waycare, the cloud-based platform for proactive traffic management, to global AI company Rekor System.
To date, the team has exited 10 investments, delivering a realized 2.2 MOIC and 39% IRR. So far, the team has executed 50+ transactions in only six years.
“We need innovative technologies to transform the traditional energy value chain and build a net-zero economy,” says Thomas Birr, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at E.ON. “In the last years, our venturing team proved to be the ideal partner to bring those technologies to E.ON. As an anchor investor of the new Future Energy Ventures Fund, we will continue the successful collaboration.”
“With 30 billion dollars of VC investments into climate tech companies in 2021 and 70% of the global economy committed to achieving net-zero, climate tech has become a primary investment strategy – and rightly so if we are to make any progress towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Jan Lozek, Founder and Managing Partner of FEV. “We are engaged in advanced discussions with a number of well-known strategic investors as well as institutional investors and family offices. With an expanded base of like-minded investors, we look forward to teaming up with exceptional entrepreneurs to further decarbonize energy and help build an energy system for future generations.”
The Fund is administered by global fund service provider Apex Group.
About Future Energy Ventures
Future Energy Ventures is the venture capital investment and collaboration platform of E.ON. It invests in digital and digitally-enabled technologies and business models that have the potential to redefine the future energy landscape. Typically focusing on digital, scalable and asset-light companies seeking Series A and beyond funding, Future Energy Ventures seeks to capitalise on the investment opportunities presented by the transition to this new energy future and maximise scaling opportunities for its portfolio.
For more information, visit www.fev.vc.
About E.ON
E.ON is an international investor-owned energy company, which focuses on energy networks and customer solutions. As one of Europe’s largest energy companies, E.ON plays a leading role in shaping a clean, digital, decentralized world of energy. To this end, more than 75,000 employees develop and sell products and solutions for private, commercial and industrial customers as well as for cities and municipalities. Around 50 million customers purchase electricity, gas, digital products or solutions for electric mobility, energy efficiency and climate protection from E.ON. E.ON is headquartered in Essen, Germany. For more information, please visit www.eon.com.
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