Future Energy Ventures is a unique venture capital platform that brings together corporate partners and world-class start-ups to shape the future energy landscape.
Future Energy Ventures is the venture capital investment and collaboration platform of E.ON, one of Europe’s largest operators of energy networks and energy-related infrastructure and a provider of innovative customer solutions for about 50 million customers.
Our Vision
We believe the future of energy will see multiple sectors converging to deliver decarbonized, digitalized and democratized access to energy.
This needs us to all think differently; everything will be interconnected and play a role within a larger energy infrastructure. Electric cars are not just vehicles, they are also mobile batteries; buildings can also be energy generators; homes and businesses can be smart and connected, regulating the energy they use and when. Frontier technologies such as AI and blockchain have a role to play in connecting these producers and consumers of energy together.
Creating this new energy future requires bold thinking and will see new players disrupt traditional energy supply chains. Future Energy Ventures exists to drive that transition by investing in the innovative companies that are creating the digital and digitally enabled technologies that have the potential to redefine the future energy landscape, helping these pioneers to build their business and make the connections to accelerate their growth.
Future Energy Ventures is born from the energy industry, but it understands energy must converge with other sectors to create a sustainable and prosperous future. This is why we go beyond energy to invest in companies solving problems in cities or building frontier technology. The realization of our ambition relies on collaboration and partnerships; between people and companies from many different industries.
Our focus
Pioneering the transition to a new energy future built on digital technologies relies on expanding our scope to encompass a wider definition of the future of energy.
Energy infrastructure will converge with other infrastructure. Buildings will have photovoltaic panels and turbines to generate energy and store it for times of peak use. Battery technology and other forms of energy storage will be integrated into homes, cities, vehicles and streets, allowing energy to be stored and drawn down from multiple points with the entire city acting as a smart grid and smart energy storage network.
We will also see opportunities for existing infrastructure, petrol stations for example, to be reimagined and reused as energy generation, charging and storage hubs for fleets of smart electric vehicles, which in time will be autonomous and driverless.
The future will also demand far more energy to power a connected world but that energy will be cheap and abundant as a result of localized, renewable energy production and microgeneration. It will also be smart and controllable, enabling consumers to regulate what they use and when and to sell excess energy back to the grid from the home, office and municipal generation facilities.
We condense this extended network of the future of energy into three Focus Areas.
Future Energy
The energy system will shift to a decarbonized, decentralized and digitally-interconnected system. Digital technologies are the key enabler for this transition and are set to make energy systems around the world more connected, intelligent, efficient, reliable and sustainable.
One aspect of this transformation that presents great potential is the ability to break down boundaries between energy and adjacent sectors, increasing flexibility and enabling integration across entire systems.
As a result, we believe now is an unprecedented time for attractive investment opportunities, and a call for action for today’s energy industry.
Future Cities
While cities transform, various kinds of technologies have emerged as a means to improve the quality of life of their citizens. Rapid urbanization however has led mankind to face a number of challenges that must be overcome in mega urban areas.
The consequences are far-ranging and incising: freshwater scarcity, mountains of refuse, permanent traffic gridlock and air pollution. How can municipalities master these challenges with their tight budgets?
One key solution is smart cities. Smart cities are intelligent and connected cities, contributing to a better quality of life and reduced resource consumption.
Future Technologies
We believe that the future of cities and energy will be shaped by advances in technology.
We will tap into the frontier and deep technologies that promise to shape the future of cities and energy in the years to come, including the fields of AI and Machine Learning, Blockchain and Cyber Security.
Who we’re looking for?
We focus on investing in start-ups that are transforming the energy ecosystem and pioneering the future of energy.
Our sweet spot is digital, scalable and asset-light companies seeking Series A and beyond funding that have shown evidence of a product-market-fit.