Innogy Venture Capital and AQTON invest in Kiwigrid GmbH
June 20, 2013
Innogy Venture Capital and AQTON invest together with High-Tech Gruenderfonds in the Dresden-located start-up Kiwigrid. The young technology company develops and runs an open communication and control platform for intelligent energy management, which enables the integration of distributed devices for generation, storage and consumption of energy into distribution grids.
“Kiwigrid addresses a fundamental precondition for a successful energy transition: the systematic integration and management of distributed generation in households and enterprises. In addition to this, new product and service offerings will become easily introducible on the basis of the Kiwigrid platform, including e.g. realization of virtual power plants, smart metering services and charge management of electric vehicles. With this combination, Kiwigrid meets the investment focus of Innogy Venture Capital”, explains Dr. Frank Starrmann, Managing Director of Innogy Venture Capital GmbH.
Romy Schnelle, Senior Investment Manager of High-Tech Gruenderfonds, adds: „Kiwigrid is a specialized technology supplier, that offers a flexible and adaptable platform solution to equipment manufacturers and energy utilities. This platform is geared to the own product portfolio while keeping its openness to realize system solutions together with other manufacturers. Especially, the ability to integrate different devices on a neutral platform, offers a unique competitive edge to Kiwigrid and ensures the sustainability in light of the still developing communication standards.“
Consisting of an integrated hard- and software solution, the Kiwigrid platform is complemented by a cloud database. Thanks to intelligent web-based applications, end-users, installers, plant manufacturers or energy utilities are enabled to create, monitor, and optimize distributed energy systems on the platform. Furthermore, they are able to combine these actions, if required. Therefore, a connection between the control units at the user’s premises has to be made connecting generation devices, consuming devices and storage as well as energy meters using wired or wireless connectivity.
„With Kiwigrid we offer plant manufacturers and energy utilities an innovative, highly secure and fully operating platform for distributed energy management, providing a competitive advantage by offering value added services in the end-customer market“, Dr. Carsten Bether, CEO and founder of Kiwigrid GmbH. „Several well-known manufacturers and energy utilities already utilise the Kiwigrid solution to market their innovative value added services. The joint investment of Innogy Venture Capital, AQTON and the already since 2011 existing investor High-Tech Gruenderfonds allows the commercial roll-out of our platform and opens up access to networks and customers which are highly significant for the continued growth of Kiwigrid.“
Contact:
Kiwigrid GmbH
CEO
Dr. Carsten Bether
E: Carsten.Bether@kiwigrid.com
Innogy Venture Capital GmbH is a fund management company specialised on decentralised and renewable energy technologies. The company focuses on investments in European startup companies that provide solutions for CO2-neutral, renewable energy generation and storage for the energy market of the future. With a final closing size of EUR 115 million the currently managed “Innogy Renewables Technology Fund I” is a leading early stage investor in this segment in Europe. The fund’s sponsors are RWE Innogy and Conetwork Erneuerbare Energien (CEE). RWE Innogy pools within the German utility RWE the expertise for construction and operation of renewable energy generation assets. Conetwork Erneuerbare Energien, an investment company of Lampe Bank Group, is also focusing on renewable energy generation.
Contact:
Innogy Venture Capital
Viola Baumann
Communications Manager
P: +49 201 12-14862
Mobile: +49 162 2956521
AQTON SE is a strategic investment company of the entrepreneur Stefan Quandt. Stefan Quandt is holding shares of BMW AG, DataCard Corp. (systems for identification and card personalization), Gemalto N.V. (digital security) and Solarwatt GmbH (PV systems and energy solutions) via AQTON. More information: www.aqton.eu
The High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The provided seed financing is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Usually, the High-Tech-Gruenderfonds invests EUR 500,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per company portfolio in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as thirteen industrial groups of ALTANA, BASF, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE Color, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. The High-Tech Gruenderfonds has about EUR 563 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million – HTGF I, EUR 291 million – HTGF II).
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
Contact:
High-Tech Gruenderfonds
Stefanie Zillikens
Communications Manager
P: + 49 228 823001-07
Mobile: +49 175 589 66 04
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