Estonian innovation to help stabilise grid as renewables increase
Climate KIC supported Estonian start-up Sympower has raised €5.2 million in funding from Kees Koolen, former CEO and Chairman of Booking.com, among others. The company, which produces software that enables the balancing of renewable energy supply and demand, helping to secure grid stability, aims to use the new funding to expand into the European green market and help accelerate the transition to renewables.
Reducing carbon footprint and improving energy management are two of the most effective solutions for the energy sector in the fight against global warming. Sympower, a company founded during its participation in Climate KIC’s ClimateLaunchpad and Accelerator programmes, has produced a solution that stabilises energy grids and offers real-time monitoring and balancing of electricity supply and demand. The solution also projects the unlocking of new revenue streams by maximising the value of flexibility across energy markets and industries.
“Raising our Series B funding marks an important milestone in Sympower’s journey and will help our mission to accelerate the global energy transition. The last year has seen a real boom in renewables and a stronger regulatory push from the European Union, which means now is the perfect time to increase our capabilities and European reach. Flexibility is vital for the energy transition and will play a crucial role in a fully renewable energy system that forms the basis of a sustainable world,” said the CEO of Sympower, Simon Bushell, who was featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe List
The main funder, Kees Koolen, is also an early investor and international expansion advisor to Uber. Sympower is the first clean energy software company to receive an investment from Koolen. The investment signals an appetite for flexibility solutions, in line with the increasing share of renewables in the European energy mix and the opening of new electricity markets, such as Greece, as encouraged by the European Commission. Sympower will also focus on markets that promote clean energy technologies and that, it believes, have exciting growth potential, such as Germany or Spain.