Richard Nourse leads venture capital fund manager Novusmodus, which invests the capital of Ireland-based utility ESB, as managing partner.
A year after leaving Merrill Lynch in 2007, and after a brief spell working for the UK government selling British Energy to EDF, Nourse hooked up with ESB during the financial crisis.
He said: “ESB had been thinking about how it would meet the challenges involved in transforming itself from a largely fossil-based integrated electricity company to one that would deliver in a lowcarbon world.
“It realised that in a short space of time it would need to adopt new technologies and new business structures, many of which it would be unfamiliar with. This would be challenging within a utility framework and hence ESB was happy to pursue a fund structure. It is clear ESB was ahead of other utilities in its thinking on this.
“We are slightly different from many corporate venture advisers and funds as the adviser, Novusmodus, is owned by its partners. We are exclusive adviser to the fund, ESB Novusmodus. ESB is the sole limited partner [investor].”
Corporates have become more important in backing clean technology in recent years. Nourse said: “If you go to a European clean-tech conference there is a huge change. Now I think 60% of the people in the room are corporate venturing teams. The clean agenda is maturing. Now people are thinking about the interaction between clean and affordability.”
The company has made about 10 deals and invested about €100m ($130m).
Lessons from the top: Nourse said: “You need to have a close and regular interaction with your
corporate. We do this through secondments from ESB to Novusmodus and through a technology
committee that meets regularly. We also have an investment committee chaired by the deputy chief
executive and which includes the chief financial officer and the head of innovation. We want to benefit
from everything ESB has to offer, and key to that is to remain close to the utility whose money we advise.”