Jungle co-founders, Alexander Helmer and Silvio Rodrigues | Image credit: Jungle (LinkedIn)
Dutch and Portuguese AI startup Jungle, a company that develops and applies artificial intelligence to increase the uptime and performance of renewable energy sources, announced on Monday that it has raised €5M in a Series A round of funding.
The investment was led by Dutch VC SHIFT Invest. Rocks International Group, EDP Ventures, Gorilla Growth Capital, and Future Energy Ventures also participated in the round.
Guus Verhees, managing partner at SHIFT Invest, says, “About a year ago we provided a small loan to Jungle and since then we have seen great progress which triggered our investment appetite on a larger scale. Jungle’s customers are empowered to boost production, prevent failure costs and reduce CO2 emissions of their production facilities. The instant contribution of Jungle to the energy transition need fits SHIFT’s impact investing purpose very well.”
Capital utilisation
Jungle claims it will use the proceeds to accelerate the deployment of its technology in the renewable energy and industrial sectors. The company will also hire for 12 new positions over the next few months.
Arnoud Kamerbeek, CEO of Jungle, says, “We have been able to expand to a much larger customer base over the past year. With this funding, we will further strengthen our team to support scaling on a global basis. We have found a very valuable partner in SHIFT, and we are happy that they have doubled down on their commitment to us.”
AI that helps you improve machinery performance
Founded in 2016 by Arnoud Kamerbeek, Alexander Helmer and Silvio Rodrigues, Jungle’s aim is to develop the world’s most effective tools to resolve machine underperformance.
The company’s technology helps owners and operators of wind farms, solar farms, and manufacturing lines to identify and resolve underperformance, allowing them to improve production. In the renewables sector, that means enabling already installed wind turbines and solar panels to increase their electricity generation, accelerating the world’s urgent energy transition.
By anticipating coming breakdowns and identifying underperformance issues like curtailment and component misalignment, Jungle’s AI solution Canopy develops a comprehensive awareness of machine performance and component health. This helps customers to even extend the lifespan, production, and availability of their assets.
Additionally, Jungle also provides customised inter- and intraday power predictions based on the characteristics of their clients’ wind and solar farms.
About SHIFT Invest
Founded in 2009, SHIFT Invest is a Dutch impact venture capital fund that invests in innovations related to food & agriculture, green industries, energy transition, and sustainable mobility & logistics. It backs startups that are achieving a positive environmental impact and financial return.
SHIFT Invest III’s fund-level impact objective is to fight climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion in order to restore the harmony between nature and civilisation. They accomplish this through assisting and investing in creative startups and scale-ups that support this objective in the areas of sustainable energy transition, green industries, smart food and agriculture, and sustainable transportation and logistics.
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