Set News
ENPHASE ENERGY TO ACQUIRE GREENCOM NETWORKS TO EXPAND ENPHASE’S HOME ENERGY MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES
FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 29, 2022 — Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH), a global energy technology company and the world’s leading supplier of microinverter-based solar and battery systems, today announced that it has agreed to acquire GreenCom Networks AG.
SET VENTURES PROMOTES LEONIE MEKEL TO DIRECTOR
Amsterdam, 2 August, 2022 – SET Ventures, the Amsterdam-based venture capital firm focused on digital technologies for a carbon-free energy system, announced that Leonie Mekel has been promoted to Director of Finance & Operations. Leonie (38) is responsible for all financial and operational processes at SET and is involved in fundraising and policy outreach. SET is regulated as an alternative asset manager by the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (AFM). As compliance officer, she ensures adherence to relevant regulatory, tax, and legal obligations and reporting requirements. She is dedicated to contributing to SET’s ambition to create a sustainable and carbon-free energy system. Since joining SET in 2016, Leonie has developed into a seasoned finance and operations expert. Previously, she worked at PwC as a tax advisor, with a specialization in financial markets. With a background in legal and tax and over 10 years of experience in the financial sector she […]
ETPA RAISES €5M BY SET VENTURES AND ABN AMRO
Amsterdam – 12 July – Energy Trading Platform Amsterdam B.V. (ETPA) announced that it has been awarded a license to operate as a pan-European intraday energy exchange. By making energy trading faster and cheaper, ETPA’s intraday trading platform contributes to a flexible energy system that can absorb more energy from renewable sources. With the license, the company can expand its reach and offer services to energy traders across Europe. To support its international growth ambitions, ETPA raised EUR 5 million in growth financing from energy transition expert SET Ventures and sustainable finance leader ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund. NEMO license to enter the European intraday market ETPA provides a short-term trading platform to optimise participants’ electricity production and consumption portfolio and manage congestion in The Netherlands through its connection to GOPACS. ETPA received Nominated Electricity Market Operator (NEMO) status, providing a mandate to run the integrated intraday electricity market across Europe. In line […]
€6.1M FOR FLEXIDAO BY SET, GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT
Barcelona/Amsterdam – 7 July 2022 – FlexiDAO, a leading software provider for 24/7 electricity and carbon tracking, has announced a Series A investment round led by SET Ventures, with investment from Google and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and existing investor EIT InnoEnergy. FlexiDAO enables companies and governments to operate on round-the-clock carbon-free energy, by certifying and tracing their electricity and its true carbon content, every hour of every day. The investment will drive rapid scaling of the company’s first-of-its-kind software platform worldwide, focused on the US and Europe. Google and Microsoft are not only investing, but are also customers of FlexiDAO, already using the technology to support their targets of 100% 24/7 carbon-free electricity by 2030. More than one-third1 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies now have net zero targets, and there is increasing pressure on companies for transparent reporting of their emissions to drive decarbonisation. For example, the US […]
JULIA PADBERG IS PROMOTED TO PARTNER AT SET VENTURES
SET Ventures, the Amsterdam-based venture capital firm focused on digital technology for a carbon-free energy system, announced that Julia Padberg has been promoted to Partner. Julia (35) is returning from maternity leave this month in this new position. She has been with SET for 6 years, spearheading SET investments across Europe in domains such as energy system digitalisation and electrification of mobility. Julia serves as a Non-Executive Director at portfolio companies Flexidao, Trunkrs, and Sensorfact, and as an observer on the board of depsys. She was also an observer at Energyworx, Greencom Networks, and Greenflux (sold to DKV Mobility). Before joining SET, Julia was active in M&A and investment advisory in the cleantech and energy sector, amongst others at merchant bank Kempen & Co. “Julia has been instrumental in strengthening SET’s European network and reputation, as well as expanding the investment portfolio. Her expertise in key sectors of the energy […]
INSTAGRID RAISES €29M SERIES B
Ludwigsburg, 09.02.2022 – instagrid, a leader in high-performance mobile battery systems in the professional sector, announced today its Series B financing of approximately $33 million (€29 million). The round is being led by Energy Impact Partners (EIP), a U.S.-based venture capital firm investing in businesses building a sustainable future. As a result, instagrid’s total funding rises to more than $45 million (€40 million). Instagrid is using the new funds to drive its international expansion in Europe and the US. In addition, the battery platform will expand to include digital services and connectivity, enabling smart, customized energy solutions in the future. As the most compact and lightweight system on the market, instagrid’s high-performance battery makes it possible to use electricity from renewable sources in any location. Instagrid’s technology replaces environmentally harmful combustion engines, such as those predominantly used today for portable power for construction, events or off-grid areas. Every year 50 […]
SENSORFACT RAISED €13M INVESTMENT ROUND FROM SET VENTURES, FORWARD.ONE AND KORYS
Investment companies SET Ventures, FORWARD.one and Korys are investing in the Utrecht-based climate scale-up Sensorfact. Sensorfact helps companies in the manufacturing industry to save up to 15% on energy bills with intelligent energy management and energy-saving advice. In an earlier investment round in 2021, Sensorfact managed to raise 3.7 million euros from, among others, FORWARD.one and Korys, the investment company set up by the Belgian business family Colruyt. Now SET Ventures also joins forces with the Utrecht-based scale-up. SET Ventures is known for its focus on the energy transition. Sensorfact, founded in 2016, developed an Intelligent Energy Management System (IEMS). With this plug-and-play hardware and software, industrial SMEs can easily access and monitor their energy consumption in detail, reduce it with targeted actions and integrate it into increasingly strict energy reports. Sensorfact has more than 600 customers in more than 25 countries in Europe: mainly in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium […]
HARDWARE IS NOT ENOUGH TO ENABLE THE ENERGY SYSTEM TRANSITION
Observations from a VC investor focused on the European energy sector By Julia Padberg, Principal, SET Ventures “The biggest challenge of the energy system transition lies in the orchestration, integration, and management of enormous volumes of decentralized and volatile energy sources, like solar.” Whether solar PV will be the world’s largest source of electricity in 2030 is no longer a question. With tariffs dropping as low as USD 1.04c/kWh in Saudi Arabia (April 2021), solar has become the cheapest source of electricity in history and is therefore expected to be the dominant electricity generator globally from 2026 onwards (IEA, World Energy Outlook 2020). However, it is a misconception that all these thousands of TWh of photovoltaic power will simply be installed due to Moore’s Law of ‘exponential technological progress’ in manufacturing, resulting in better and cheaper hardware. In fact, the biggest challenge of the energy system transition lies in the […]
INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPH OSTERMANN, ENTREPRENEUR IN RESIDENCE
“Doing nothing wrong, does not mean you are doing the right things” We are excited to welcome Christoph Ostermann to the SET Ventures team as our Entrepreneur in Residence. Through a fireside chat with René Savelsberg, Managing Partner at SET, we would like to further introduce Christoph to you and share his views. René Savelsberg: “Christoph, with your entrepreneurial background as a founder of, among others, sonnen, and now active also as a private investor, what do you think are the key differences between the entrepreneur-view vs a VC-investor opinion, and what can we learn from each other?” Christoph Ostermann: “I think that investors and entrepreneurs have different perspectives on the way we look at certain aspects of an early stage company. As an entrepreneur I instinctively have a pretty operational view. I always look at the company from the perspective of where are the weaknesses, and how can we […]
TILL STENZEL JOINS SET AS VENTURE PARTNER
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – May 4, 2021 – SET Ventures is pleased to announce that Dr. Till Stenzel joins the team as a Venture Partner with a focus on the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Till has almost 20 years of experience working at the intersection of the energy transition and digital transformation. Till has worked as an investor, entrepreneur, consultant and executive and has developed a deep understanding of the levers for change in the energy sector. Prior to SET Ventures, Till was a Managing Director at DTCP focusing on investments in the digital economy. Other previous engagements include corporate strategy work at E.ON, cleantech investment with Hazel Capital (now Gresham House New Energy), co-founding TuNur, the first large-scale solar projects developer in Tunisia, and policy advisory work for the UK Government and Parliament, as well as with the International Energy Agency (IEA). Till will support SET Ventures’ mission […]
GREENCOM ANNOUNCES €12M FUNDING ROUND LED BY SHELL VENTURES
Shell Ventures and Energy & Environment Investment join existing investors (including Centrica and E.ON) to further GreenCom’s mission to become the leading residential energy IoT platform. GreenCom is already connecting many Home Energy Management devices for energy companies such as Centrica, E.ON, ESB, and is rapidly scaling deployment of its platform across Europe. Shell Ventures and EEI bring extensive experience in the distributed energy sector and provide GreenCom a strong gateway to new international markets. MUNICH, GERMANY – December 2, 2020 – GreenCom Networks AG (“GreenCom”) is pleased to announce the conclusion of its latest financing round of €12 million, led by Shell Ventures and supported by Energy & Environment Investment (“EEI”) and existing investors. The investment enables GreenCom to expand its strategy of international growth and to further enhance its pioneering position as the leading residential energy IoT company in Europe. Shell Ventures, Shell’s corporate venture capital arm, and Japanese venture capital […]
INSTAGRID WINS THE SET AWARD 2020
LUDWIGSBURG, GERMANY – October 23, 2020 – Yesterday, on the World Energy Day, instagrid won the Start Up Energy Transition Award 2020 in the Renewable Energies and Materials category. The start-up from Germany prevailed among 570 applications from all over the world. The judges particularly praised the product as a very progressive and environmentally friendly innovation and furthermore honored the visionary business of the young company. About SET: Start Up Energy Transition (SET) is a global innovation platform supporting innovation in energy transition. SET is implemented with the conviction that a sustainable future is directly linked to innovative business models and political will. The SET Award is presented in five different categories, which cover the entire clean energy spectrum. During the SET week online, instagrid GmbH was presented with the Award in Renewable Energies and Materials -category. With its portable power solution, which provides simple, flexible and emission-free access to mobile electricity for professionals […]
SET WINS THE CLEANTECH GROUP'S AWARD 2019
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – May 22, 2019 – During the 15th annual Cleantech Forum Europe event, held in Stockholm, Sweden, SET Ventures won the European Investor of the Year 2019 Award. The Cleantech Group marked standout achievements from companies, investors, and individuals of the last 12 months in the cleantech ecosystem. This year, to reflect the maturity of the cleantech ecosystem, Cleantech Group created a new, Investor of the Year award to recognise “a European investor who, in the prior 12 months, has demonstrated positive outcomes and progress across the major activity set – fundraising, realising positive returns for LPs via exits, and portfolio management (both in progressing the current portfolio and adding quality new companies”. The jury of the award concluded that, although others may have performed strongly on one or two parts of the activity set, SET Ventures was the standout across the full set, demonstrated by the Fund […]
