Startupnight co-producers E.ON and IBB invest in nuventura
Great news for energy startup nuventura: Startupnight co-producers :agile, E.ON´s accelerator and seed-investor, and IBB Berlin through its venture capital fund Technologie Berlin, managed by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft bmH, have closed an investment in the startup that replaces SF6 in gas-insulated switchgear with dry air.
The core principle of nuventura’s technology is the avoidance of SF6 – the most potent greenhouse gas in existence (we reported earlier on nuventura). Gas-insulated switchgear, a fundamental component of any electricity grid, uses SF6 as a protective gas layer enclosing the conductors. Instead of SF6, nuventura uses simple dry air in its switchgear design, while keeping all benefits of the SF6-technology.
nuventura had joined :agile accelerator in early 2018 and have been closely working with E.ON ever since. “Our aim as is to partner with startups that developed trendsetting tech, have a great and diverse team and that are able to set up pilots with the E.ON businesses,” says Inga Land, Managing Director of :agile accelerator GmbH. “Nuventura brings all that along and we are looking forward to keep working with them. Apart from the investment, it is planned to launch a pilot project together with E.ON’s grid operator E.DIS at Ketzin substation, site of the E.DIS energy transition lab.”
After the investment the company now has a substantial 7-digit EUR amount at hand to realize its upcoming goals and milestones. nuventura will use the new investment to realize several installations of their technology in electricity grids in and outside Germany and to develop additional products based on the company’s patents. The new funds will also be used to continue certifying its sustainable, patented technology for gas insulated switchgear for commercial application in the medium voltage range and to enter the market for switchgear technologies as a technology licensing company. “We should do everything in our power to achieve a complete ban of SF6. That is why we are making our technology available to all switchgear manufacturers via licenses,” Fabian Lemke, commercial director at nuventura, adds.
