“Investment is the end of the beginning,” says Frederico Gonçalves, who was recently promoted to partner at EDP Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Portuguese utility EDP Group. Once the team makes an investment, there is a concerted effort to get the startup working on joint projects with EDP business units.
In fact, for every €1 invested, an EDP Ventures portfolio company on average achieves about €2 of contracts with EDP’s business units, Gonçalves estimates.
The 12-person team at EDP Ventures has a “global-but-local” mentality and is expanding to the US and Singapore later this year. Gonçalves is managing this global team with presence in Lisbon, Madrid and São Paulo.
Gonçalves joined EDP as a project manager at the M&A and corporate development department in 2005, before making his way to CVC five years later.
Founded in 2008, EDP targets early-stage clean energy technology developers. The unit invests off the balance sheet and aims to invest up to €150m by 2026.
“He is perceived as a reference in the space, not
only in Europe, but also across North America and Asia Pacific.”
EDP provides between €1m and €10m per deal at series A and B stages. It has 39 active portfolio companies across the US, Israel, Latin America, Europe, Australia, Singapore and Bangladesh.
Gonçalves and his team are focusing on the cleantech space, following up on key trends such as renewable energy generation, geothermal energy, ocean-based carbon dioxide removal, long-duration energy storage and green steam. “EDP Ventures is at the forefront, supporting EDP to win this energy transition race,” he says.
Gonçalves has co-led the company to this leadership position in the cleantech space, says Luís Manuel, board member of EDP Inovação, which oversees the CVC unit and other startup initiatives such as EDP Starter and accelerator Free Electrons. “He is perceived as a reference in the space, not only in Europe, but also across North America and Asia Pacific,” says Manuel.
See the full list of GCV Emerging Leaders for 2024 here.