Equinor Energy Ventures
Investing in renewable energy growth companies
Equinor Energy Ventures is one of the world’s largest corporate venture funds dedicated to investing in attractive and ambitious growth companies in renewable energy.
The fund was established in February 2016 as part of Equinor’s business within New Energy Solutions, reflecting the company’s aspirations to gradually complement its oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy and low-carbon solutions.
- USD 200 million in total investment capital
- Investing USD 1-20 million per company
- Investing over a period of 4-7 years
Actively building our portfolio
- ChargePoint: Operator of the world’s largest and most open EV charging network. About our investment.
- Convergent: A technology-neutral energy storage asset developer in the utility and industrial sector.
- Oxford PV: A solar technology company. About our investment.
- Etagen: A developer of free linear piston gas engine for decentralised power generation.
- Fos4X: A developer of sensor platform and software for wind turbine optimisation. About our investment.
An attractive partner for entrepreneurs
Equinor Energy Ventures aims to be an attractive partner for growth companies. We want to work with innovators and disruptors, partnering with entrepreneurs to shape the future of energy.
We operate as a dedicated venture capital team with long-term commitment and engagement, aligned with the interests of entrepreneurs and co-investors.
The fund will take direct positions primarily as a minority shareholder in growth companies, preferably as a co-investor with other venture firms. Investment in selected fund will also be considered to gain a wider footprint.
We are ready to invest in three strategic areas:
Potential investment themes
- Offshore wind
- Solar
- Onshore wind
- Storage
- Transportation
- Energy efficiency
- Smart grids
Supporting our current operations in renewables:
Equinor has since 2010 built up a strong position in offshore wind. Through venture capital investments, we will help Equinor strengthen this position.
Positioning in renewable growth opportunities:
Through our venture investments we intend to evaluate new business opportunities in the solar and onshore wind value chain today. We will identify and develop business models that drive the demand for our core products
Exploring new high impact technologies and business models:
We will explore for high impact technologies and business models that could potentially disrupt our markets in the future.
What we look for in a company
The fundamental criterion for us is a strong strategic fit. We are a corporate venture capital fund hence our first filter would be to assess what the portfolio company can bring to Equinor, now or in the future. If the strategic fit is strong, we will use the following other parameters to carefully evaluate which opportunities to pursue:
- Scalable market potential: We will target companies active in markets that are large enough to allow the portfolio company to grow quickly to a significant size.
- Strong team: We will back management teams who have the drive to build successful world-class companies, have entrepreneurial experience and are committed.
- Competitive advantage: Every interesting business has real competition. We will invest in companies that can convince us that they have the advantages that address all forms of competition, and can sustain these advantages over several years.
- Exit potential: Last but certainly not the least – strong outlook for a successful exit. Potential for attractive returns will drive our evaluation process.
Our team
The team initially consists investment professionals operating with a global mandate based out of Equinor’s offices in London and Oslo:
E-mail: contactEEV@equinor.com
Twitter: @Equinor_Venture
Proven track record
The Equinor Energy Ventures team, focusing on growth-phase investments in renewable energy, will operate alongside Equinor’s existing venture entity, Equinor Technology Ventures (ETV), which focuses on early-phase investments in upstream oil and gas.
Over a period of more than 10 years, ETV have diligently screened and invested in start-ups, helped implement their technology in our fields, and successfully exited them – thereby making attractive financial returns for Equinor.
- USD 135 million invested (since 2000)
- 2.5X returns (since 2000)
- Exit of the year 2015 – Norwegian Venture Capital Association (for RESMAN)