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Image credits: Cleanwatts

Verdane, an Oslo-based specialist growth equity investor, announced that it has invested €25M in Portuguese energy management software company Cleanwatts through its impact fund Idun. Cleanwatts witnessed a revenue increase of 65 per cent year-on-year in 2021 and expects more than 200 per cent revenue growth in 2022.

Fund utilisation

Cleanwatts intends to allocate the funds to accelerate and expand its commercial presence in target markets and further develop its software, Cleanwatts OS, to anticipate evolving needs in local energy markets.

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The company will also assess M&A possibilities with Verdane, if and where accretive to the Cleanwatts value proposition.
Earlier this year, Cleanwatts expanded its international presence by opening a branch in Italy and an operating entity in the US. The company now operates in Portugal (HQ), Italy, Spain, and the United States, with plans to expand further into Europe and Asia.

Cleanwatts: What you need to know

Cleanwatts is a clean tech company focused on simplifying, amplifying, and accelerating the energy transition for local communities globally. The company manages, optimises and controls over 2TWh through its modular Operating System (OS) – Cleanwatts OS.

Currently, the company is in the process of building more than 80 energy communities, several of which are already operational. Cleanwatts REC (Renewable Energy Communities) members can lower their average energy costs by up to 60%

According to the company, REC members can include residents, commercial and industrial businesses, municipal buildings, schools, hospitals, and universities that collectively contribute to the clean energy transition, while advancing energy efficiency, lowering electricity bills, and creating jobs within the local economy.

To accelerate the adoption, the Portuguese company offers distributed energy resources, including PV solar capacity, energy storage systems, EV charging infrastructure, and electrification of heating and cooling with zero upfront investment.

Michael Pinto, CEO and Co-Founder of Cleanwatts, says, “Mitigating the rising cost of energy and supply constraints while responding to increasing demand for electricity and meeting decarbonization targets is an enormous global challenge. Fortunately, digitally-enabled RECs now represents both an effective and efficient solution to address these problems. A wide range of viable technologies and regulatory frameworks are finally in place for our society to reframe its relationship with energy and pave the way for a cleaner, fairer, and more sustainable future. We are proud to partner with Verdane to address the rapid paradigm shift towards a more efficient and resilient decentralised energy network.”

Verdane: What you need to know

Norwegian growth equity investment firm Verdane partners with tech-enabled, sustainable European businesses to help them reach the next stage of international growth.

The company invests as a minority or majority investor, either in single companies or through portfolios of companies in three core themes: the Digital Consumer, Software Everywhere, and Sustainable Society.

The company’s funds hold over €4B in total commitments and have made over 140 investments in fast-growing businesses since 2003. Verdane’s team consists of over 100 investment professionals and operating experts, based out of Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo, and Stockholm.

Verdane’s impact fund Idun is classified as “Article 9” under the European Union’s Finance Disclosure Regulation and closed in January, 2022, at its hard cap of €300M, over its target fund size of €225M.

Idun makes investments focused on driving impact in three clusters: energy transition, sustainable consumption, and resilient communities. To date, Verdane has invested in over 30 sustainable society businesses.

Bjarne Kveim Lie, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Verdane, says, “Our team is impressed by Cleanwatts’ potential to provide a global solution to a local problem that is causing tens of millions of households in the US and the UK to forego food and medicine to pay energy bills or to go without electricity at all for parts of the year. We look forward to deploying our extensive experience scaling SaaS businesses and harnessing our in-house team of operating experts to power Cleanwatts through this critical scaling phase of its growth journey.”