Korys joins Eneida on the ‘Road To Zen’ – New round of financing for a World Leading Low Voltage Grid Optimisation Company

Lead investor Korys together with the Portuguese 200M Co-investment fund and with existing investors HCapital, Portugal Ventures and Innoenergy participates in this new round of financing for the Coimbra-based company, determined to turn each neighbourhood into a ‘zero emission neighbourhood’.

Coimbra/Halle, November 6^th 2020.  Eneida is an innovative SME, founded in 2012 in Coimbra (Portugal), strongly connected to the city’s university. Eight years later, this new financing round will allow the Eneida team to further develop and grow internationally, with a capital increase of 4.5 million euros with Korys and 200M as lead investors. Existing shareholders HCapital, Portugal Ventures, Innoenergy and the Founders also take part in this new round to confirm their belief in the company’s potential. Eneida is already active in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and aims to become the world leader in LV grid monitoring, forecasting and controlling services.

With the actual rise of residential solar panels, EV charging stations, heat pumps and behind the meter storage, network operators are faced with a strong increase in variability of supply and demand in the local grids. As a result, distribution system operators (DSO) are faced with challenges previously only addressed at the level of transmission operators (TSO).

Eneida provides new insights to these network operators by installing specially designed smart sensors in neighbourhood substations. The data retrieved from these sensors, and from other neighbourhood sources, is transformed into actionable information on the Eneida DeepGrid® platform, supporting DSOs in real-time monitoring and optimisation of the grid.

The company focuses on the low voltage market, which consists of the grid segment situated between the secondary substation and the residential metering point.

Eneida already services customers on a worldwide basis. However, the ambition is to scale the solution and further build on the data analytics capabilities in terms of grid forecasting and grid planning.

‘Thanks to this new financing round, we will be able to accelerate on our mission of Zero Emissions Neighbourhood through Neighbourhood Grid Intelligence, by further innovating and expanding our portfolio of operational analytics applications for the low voltage network´, says Carlos Pina Teixeira (CEO of Eneida).

Carlos also emphasized that this investment ´will help to cement  our current relationships with DSOs and New Energy Players, in the geographies we are already operating as well as new, one neighbourhood at a time´.

‘This investment has a strong fit with our focus on energy transition technologies’ says Loïc de Schaetzen (Investment Director at Korys). ´The electricity grid is one of the bottlenecks for the further integration of renewable energy assets. To further enable the integration of these renewables, the grid requires significant investments and optimisations. Grid operators need to be able to reduce these investments through innovative technologies and we firmly believe that Eneida’s technology is the perfect answer here.´

‘Furthermore’ Loïc points out ‘we were impressed by the expertise of the team and the added value of the product, in addition, this investment is complementary with Korys’ recent investments as they support grid operators in coping with the increase of renewable production and distributed generation. While earlier investment focuses on high-voltage grids and utility-scale generation, Eneida focuses on low-voltage grids and ensures that the end-customer can make optimal use of all new technologies such as EVs, PV panels, storage etc.’

 
Press Contact – Korys

Sabine DERAEVE – sabine.deraeve@korys.be / tel: +32 496 22 20 18

Tina LORIS – tina.loris@korys.be /tel: +32 2 318 25 27

 
Press Contact – Eneida

Marine GRANGER – mgranger@eneida.io / tel: +351 914 132 462

About Eneida:

Eneida is an Operational Analytics Applications supplier focused on the Low Voltage network. The Eneida DeepGrid® platform provides Neighbourhood Grid Intelligence that works out LV feeder & phase measurements and makes it easy & ready for Distribution System Operators and New Energy Players analysis and decision making. It includes Eneida’s A.I. apps, respective software and specially designed smart sensors that give unprecedented visibility, optimisation and control of the Low Voltage assets and operations and support the transition to Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (ZEN). The Eneida team is determined to give each neighbourhood grid the intelligence it needs to reach Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (ZEN) for everyone, now.

For more information, go to:  https://eneida.io/

About Korys:

Korys is the investment company of the Colruyt family.  Today, it has more than EUR 4.5 billion of assets under management. Korys alos actively manages participations in privately held companies and its investment decisions are taken with a long-term perspective and based on strict economic (Profit), social (People) and ecological (Planet) criteria. Korys aims to create sustainable value in 3 major ecosystems: Life Sciences, Energy Transition and Conscious Consumer. To do so, Korys can count on a motivated team of 30 professionals based in Belgium and Luxembourg.

For more information, go to:  https://www.korys.be/

About 200M:

200M is a Matching Fund that aims to foster Co-investment in high growth innovative startups in Portugal, in partnership with national or international qualified private Co-investors. The direct financial commitments in Startups are made with risk sharing and in equal terms and conditions for 200M and Co-investors.

For more information, go to:  https://www.200m.pt/

About HCapital:

HCapital Partners is an independent private equity company dedicated to investing in Iberian SMEs, currently with 66 million euros under management. The investment in ENEIDA is held by the HCapital New Ideas fund, an early stage fund devoted to innovation in the areas of Energy, Smart Cities and Industrial processes

For more information, go to:  https://hcapital.pt/

About Portugal Ventures:

Portugal Ventures is a state-owned venture capital firm that invests in startups with global ambition. It invests in startups that have registered offices or business in Portugal operating in the Digital, Engineering & Industry, Life Science and Tourism sectors. Since 2012, Portugal Ventures has invested 146 million euros in more than 130 new companies.

For more information, go to:  https://www.portugalventures.pt/en/

About Innoenergy:

EIT InnoEnergy is the innovation engine for sustainable energy across Europe.  We support and invest in innovation at every stage of the journey – from classroom to end-customer. With our network of partners, we build connections across Europe, bringing together inventors and industry, graduates and employers, researchers and entrepreneurs, businesses and markets. We work in three essential areas of the innovation mix: Education, Innovation Projects and Business Creation Services. Bringing these disciplines together maximises the impact of each, accelerates the development of market-ready solutions, and creates a fertile environment in which we can sell the innovative results of our work.

InnoEnergy was established in 2010 and is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

For more information, go to:  https://www.innoenergy.com/