energy firms swoop on startups in billion-dollar technology race - energy storage companies

LONDON (Reuters)-
Europe's largest energy company has invested more than 1 billion euros. $1. 1 billion)
In the past month, according to Reuters, startups have announced several deals as they accelerate their search for new technology to surpass their competitors.
As can be seen from the script of Silicon Valley, German Innogy, French EDF and Dutch Eneco, as well as oil giants such as Total, have set up their own venture capital funds, look for potentially disruptive technologies worldwide.
The game was driven by a fast.
The nature of the industry is changing, and in an increasingly fierce and fragmented market, traditional energy suppliers are scrambling to keep up with renewable energy and seek any advantage over their competitors.
The investment targets range from developing batteries, startups that store a lot of solar energy, to creating systems that better manage the use of household appliances such as washing machines and thermostats.
Companies are spreading the net widely, and their funds usually scan thousands of booths from startups every year, but only invest 1-
Of them 2%.
The relatively small scale of investment (usually millions of dollars) allows businesses to build a wide range of speculative portfolios.
In the deals announced in the past month, Statkraft Ventures, the fund of Statkraft, a Norwegian power company, invested in Greenbird, a smart meter software company, while Engie's fund, a French utility, bet on the United States. S.
Serviz, a home services startup, and Opus One Solutions, a smart grid management platform in Canada.
"No one knows where it is (the industry)
Title, this is where it's exciting.
The company doesn't know, the startup doesn't know, but everyone is trying to have the game, "said Peter mikovich, managing director of Inven, the Czech utility CEZ set up a € 0. 18 billion venture capital fund in 2014.
Over the past decade, thanks to government subsidies and the explosive growth of renewable energy, the new industry landscape has caused energy companies to lose 26 billion euros in power plants without unprofitable, said Capgemini Consulting.
This has also changed the way some big companies view venture capital.
In the past, venture capital funds were often seen as luxury goods, one of the first areas of spending that were canceled in the face of fiscal tightening.
Over the past five years, however, as companies have been forced to innovate to defend market share and survive, they have become a central part of the business model.
Compared to many other venture capital funds around the world, the strategy has a different focus.
Instead of looking for significant or rapid returns on investment, these energy company funds are looking for startups that they can integrate into their business to enable them to try out new tools and technologies and benefit from them.
"We're here to discover startups that can bring value to Total and help us imagine the future," Total Energy Ventures (TEV).
TEV is one of the oldest corporate risk funds in the European energy industry, founded in 2008, investing more than 0. 15 billion euros in 25 startups, from energy storage companies like light sail energy to off-
Powerhive, power grid solar.
The fund is closely related to the main parent company of oil, indicating that it takes seriously its strategy of diversifying oil at a price of £ 950. million-
The euro bought the battery maker Saft this year.
TEV investment usually starting from 2-
€ 3 million, must be signed by a group of general managers, and some startups work directly with Total, such as Sunverge, a solar storage company, whose products are sold by Total's SunPower.
Grzegorz Gorski, senior manager for venture capital at Engie, a French utility, also expressed Badoual's view.
"Today, our investment is not translated into big data.
We need more than just returns. we need to create value . "
For example, two-year-
The new investment fund has invested 3 million euros in Sigfox, allowing it to sell the French startup's wireless network.
Connecting energy
Household consumption equipment
Its customers.
Compared to other investments made by energy companies on a daily basis, investing in startups, especially in the early stages, is relatively cheap --
Such as infrastructure upgrade-
Allows them to cover a large part of the startup scene.
The exploration of disruptive technologies in the future is driven not only by internal forces.
Companies are under increasing pressure from shareholders to implement a strategy that will make them fit to survive in a world where consumers dominate the market through technology.
Between June 2015 and May 2016, Capgemini said, 25 of Europe's largest energy companies lost as much as 23% in market value, mainly due to huge write-downs and weak energy prices.
Analysts at investment bank Macquarie say inflexible utilities will be the losers of fundamental changes in the industry.
"Investors will increasingly favor European utility companies that have the technology to reshape the utility sector," they said . ".