AMSTERDAM, 01.10.2019 – Sympower, an international scale-up driving the energy transition, has raised €3 million in a Series A funding round from Dutch investment funds Social Impact Ventures and Participatiefonds Duurzame Economie Noord-Holland (PDENH), current investors and team. The capital will fund the further international roll-out of Sympower’s electricity grid balancing services following successful implementation on electricity markets in Finland and the Netherlands.
The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of this generation. Averting this crisis requires a rapid transition to a clean energy system, one with wind and solar energy as its primary energy sources. In order to cope with the unpredictable output of such renewable energy sources, and the challenges in balancing the supply and demand of electricity that follow, electricity will have to be consumed in a more flexible way.
Sympower provides cost-effective and sustainable balancing services to the electricity grid. The Sympower software platform responds to fluctuations in the supply and demand of electricity grid in milliseconds, by regulating the consumption or generation of electrical installations across multiple industrial and commercial sectors, while taking care not to interrupt primary processes.
A flexible grid for a 100% renewable future
Sympower’s in-house developed software platform helps prepare the electricity grid for a 100% renewable future. It replaces the existing method of balancing the grid that is currently done by adjusting the output of large power plants. By managing the power consumption of a large number of distributed producers and consumers of electricity, Sympower provides a more efficient and sustainable balancing solution. By deploying the Sympower aggregation platform instead of power plants, net CO2 emissions are significantly reduced, contributing to a more efficient and future-proof energy system. The owners of the electrical installations get paid for providing flexible capacity and effectively reduce their electricity bill, boosting their bottom line while running business as usual.
Vote of Confidence
The €3M investment comes from Dutch investment funds Social Impact Ventures and PDENH, current investors and team participation. The investment will fund international growth in order to maximise the impact on electricity systems across the globe. The goal is to become the leading global platform for providing sustainable, distributed balancing services to the electricity system. Remaining an independent player on the different energy markets will continue to allow for fast and unrestricted scaling of services and partnerships.
Helmer Schukken, partner at Social Impact Ventures comments: “We believe we need all hands on deck for a clean energy future, with smart grid innovators fulfilling a crucial role in accelerating the energy transition. Sympower offers scalable and cost competitive grid flexibility solutions and is run by an international team of experts, all driven by Sympower’s impact mission to contribute to a cleaner and more sustainable energy system.”
Anthony Viellevoije, investment director at PDENH adds: “Increasing intermittent renewable energy production and new demand of electricity for transport and heating are leading to rising imbalances on the grid. We believe that the smart and sustainable demand response platform of Sympower is the missing link in the energy system of the future. As such, this investment will contribute to phasing out polluting coal and gas-fired power plants, and secondly to directly engaging industries in the energy transition. Last but not least, we strongly believe in the mission driven and knowledgeable management team of Sympower”.
“To raise funding from two professional investment funds and raise additional capital from our current investors is a huge vote of confidence in our mission, activities and the team,” says Sympower CEO, Simon Bushell. He continues, “With this funding we can maintain our position as an independent player and focus on the growth and expansion of our team and services. In doing so, we can create an even larger impact in a short amount of time and continue to accelerate the transition to a sustainable energy future. We invite businesses and driven talent looking to contribute to this transition to sign up through our website.”
Proven, Independent Concept
The investment follows a growth trajectory that has seen expansion from Estonia to the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, and Israel, with contributors across multiple industries. Sympower works together with large players in for example the paper & pulp, recycling and waste, agriculture and water management industries to offer grid operators frequency reserves and balancing services.