Sympower secures €22 million of further VC investment to accelerate Europe's energy transition

  • Sympower, market leader in the Nordics, accelerates growth strategy with plans to expand operations in 25 countries by 2025, becoming Europe’s leading independent flexibility services provider
  • Lead investor Activate Capital, together with Expon Capital, join existing investors Rubio Impact Ventures, PDENH and Rockstart in new raise
  • In the Nordics, Sympower works with partners and customers such as Vattenfall, Arctic Paper and Hive Blockchain Technologies and will soon start onboarding its first customers in Denmark. 

Amsterdam, July 19, 2022 – Rockstart, global early stage investor, announces that Sympower, Rockstart 2016 portfolio company, has raised an oversubscribed €22 million investment round from a group of five venture capital funds to finance growth in low carbon grid-balancing services. The raise is led by Silicon Valley-based Activate Capital, a leading VC and growth equity firm serving climate and sustainability pioneers in energy, mobility, and industrials. Together with Activate Capital, the consortium of VC firms include Expon Capital as well as previous investors Rubio Impact Ventures, PDENH and Rockstart. 

This new raise will assist Amsterdam-based Sympower in transforming Europe's electricity grid at a critical time in the continent's history. In order to mitigate the climate crisis whilst ensuring energy independence, flexibility to adapt to renewable, distributed production is key. 

Sympower adds that flexibility with its proprietary software platform that already provides almost 1GW of flexibility to energy grids in Europe. Sympower is market leader in Sweden and Finland, has a presence in Norway and will soon be expanding its services to Denmark. In the Nordics, Sympower works with partners and customers such as Vattenfall, Arctic Paper and Hive Blockchain Technologies and will soon start onboarding its first customers in Denmark. 

The funds will allow Sympower to serve more industrial and commercial customers across Europe, including demand-side loads, renewable energy production, electric vehicle charging, and battery storage facilities.

 Given the current uncertainty in both the financial and energy markets, we are delighted to have secured further VC investment and we welcome aboard the experienced teams of Activate and Expon. The ongoing trust and support of our current investors is also invaluable as we accelerate the expansion of our services across Europe. This will help enable the transition to a clean energy system, and assist in solving short term problems during the current EU energy crisis. Simon Bushell, Founder and CEO, Sympower
Rockstart's investment in Sympower reflects our firm belief in the enormous potential of the company. Sympower is expanding rapidly into new countries, as demand-response markets open up globally. One of these new markets is Denmark, where Rockstart has a local office and investment activities, which allows us to actively support Sympower in its efforts to enter this market. This later stage investment in Sympower is also a key milestone for Rockstart, showcasing our continued commitment to portfolio companies as they reach international scale. Max ter Horst, Managing Partner Energy, Rockstart 

Founded in 2015, Sympower has almost 100 employees working in nine countries, including the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Israel. With over 750MW of flexible distributed energy sources under management across a portfolio of more than 200 industrial and commercial customers, Sympower is rapidly expanding its operations across Europe, contributing to more stable energy grids. 

Sympower, who this year became B-Corp certified, is accelerating the global transition towards net- zero by helping to build smarter, cleaner renewable energy systems. Using its proprietary software platform, Sympower helps balance the supply and demand of electricity across international energy grids. 

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About Sympower

Sympower is accelerating the global transition towards net-zero by helping to build smarter, cleaner renewable energy systems. Using our proprietary software platform, we balance the supply and demand of electricity across international energy grids. 

We help businesses, grid operators, asset owners and other energy stakeholders around the world reduce their carbon emissions, integrate more distributed renewable energy resources, and generate new revenue streams by participating in demand-side response services.

 

Founded in 2015, Sympower has over 90 team members and is active in nine countries, including the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Israel. With over 750MW of flexibility under management across a portfolio of more than 200 customers, we are rapidly expanding our operations across Europe. 

Our customers operate in a wide range of energy-intensive industries, including paper and pulp, greenhouses and agriculture, data centres, metal industry, battery energy storage, sawmills, manufacturing and process industries.

In 2022, Sympower achieved B Corp Certification, which shows the company is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on a wide range of factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.

Background on investors

Activate Capital - A leading growth equity partner to companies building smart, sustainable systems across the energy, transportation and industrial technology markets. Activate aims to generate best-in-class financial returns while contributing to this vision of the future by investing in entrepreneurial management teams in high growth companies using technology to make the world more efficient, intelligent and sustainable. 

Expon Capital - A Luxembourg-based venture capital firm backing teams that can shape our shared future in a positive direction. Expon invests in growing tech companies run by awe-inspiring managers that clearly fit within the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Expon strategically diversifies across sectors, industries, geographies, and yes, even UN SDGs. 

Rubio Impact Ventures - Rubio Impact Ventures is a leading impact venture fund based in the Netherlands with € 150 million AUM. Rubio invests in world-changing entrepreneurs who unite powerful positive impact with a scalable commercial business; the future-proof approach to successful business. Rubio offers its investments a winning blend of capital, expertise and network access to help them accelerate to the next level.

PDENH - PDENH is an investment fund of €85 million from the Province of Noord-Holland, established to invest in sustainable and innovative initiatives. PDENH invests in companies and projects that focus on the energy transition, circular economy and sustainable mobility. To be eligible for a PDENH investment, it is important that business activities increase employment and/or innovation in Noord-Holland and that PDENH investments generate financial, economic and social returns. 

About Rockstart

Rockstart is an early stage investor that empowers purpose-driven founders across three domains: Energy, AgriFood, and Emerging Technologies.

Rockstart invests in early-stage startups from each of the three funds and provides access to capital, market, and expertise by connecting founders with co-investors, mentors, partners, corporates, and the wider Rockstart network.

Rockstart has invested in more than 350 startups and its alumni value to date is more than €1.7bn. Rockstart is an international team of 45+ professionals dedicated to empowering purpose-driven founders to become scalable and drive positive change on a global scale. Rockstart has notable exits such asWercker, Dan.com, Hubs.Com, Bouw7, iClinic, and s and Brincr. The company has offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Bogota.

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