EDP investment of EUR 70 million in startups sets new record
EDP Ventures has 39 companies in its global portfolio already and invested EUR 14 million in the last year alone. Smart grid, solar energy and artificial intelligence projects are the top investments for accelerating the energy transition.
EDP Ventures closed the year 2023 with one of the best performances since EDP entered the venture capital area in 2008. The company aims to lead and accelerate the global energy transition and has achieved the record milestone of EUR 70 million invested, with 39 active startups, in 12 countries, in the portfolio.
EDP Ventures has strengthened its global portfolio, which already involves projects in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the United States and Israel. The total value of contracts between the startups and EDP companies is more than EUR 115 million, in addition to nine exits (portfolio companies that have been sold, guaranteeing a financial return to the company).
The last year has made a huge contribution to this milestone. In 2023 alone, EDP Ventures invested EUR 14 million and added four startups in different areas to the portfolio, generating more than EUR 20 million in the total value of contracts between the companies and EDP, not only advancing innovative technologies, but also achieving significant strategic and financial results.
"We are increasingly focused on investments of very high strategic alignment with the EDP group's objectives in promoting and generating renewable energy and leading the energy transition. In this sense, in 2022, EDP Ventures changed its investment strategy to focus on more mature companies, going from a minimum ticket of between EUR 250,000 and EUR 1 million to a higher ticket of EUR 1 million to EUR 10 million. This is an important change that has contributed to the business advancing in the direction of the energy transition," said Luís Manuel, Executive Director of EDP Inovação and Managing Partner of EDP Ventures.
EDP Ventures has invested in solar energy, artificial intelligence, energy efficiency and carbon capture projects, through its team based in Portugal, Spain and Brazil, with the USA and Singapore to be added in the future. The list of companies joining the portfolio last year includes Terabase, which developed the first automated solution for building solar plants – a project aligned with EDP's objective of developing 9.4 GW of solar energy by 2026.
Another company was Mixergy, which uses artificial intelligence to manage the use of hot water in homes, thereby improving efficiency and lowering costs. For example, this innovative technology enables heating 10 times faster than a conventional system. And another highlight is the recent investment announced with Captura, a startup which is developing a technology that harnesses the power of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. This company's technology – Direct Ocean Capture – allows the captured CO2 to be stored or transformed into other products with lower emissions, thereby assisting the most challenging sectors in decarbonization.
EDP Ventures aims to reinforce its portfolio with companies that develop projects and solutions for renewable energy, electrical networks, distributed generation, storage and flexibility, green hydrogen, mobility, artificial intelligence and decarbonisation of energy use. EDP Ventures' strategy and results have already been recognised: it has joined the Global Investor in Clean Energy ranking, in 8th position; it has received the Corporate Startups Stars award; and the presence of the team (through Luís Manuel) in the 2023 Global Corporate Venturing "Top 100 Powerlist".
The companies within the EDP Ventures portfolio actively contribute to the mission of promoting the energy transition. A significant validation of this commitment is evident in the recently released 2024 Global Cleantech 100 list. In it, four startups from the EDP Ventures portfolio - Green Li-ion, Relectrify, Yotta Energy and Terabase Energy - are recognized as cutting-edge innovators.
To find out more about EDP's innovation area, visit the EDP website.
EDP Ventures in numbers
- 39 startups and scaleups in the portfolio
- €70M in investment (€14M in 2023)
- + €115M in total value of contracts (€20M in 2023)
- 9 successful startup exits (4 in 2023)