In mid-2020, Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor (formerly Statoil), merged its two corporate venturing vehicles: Equinor Energy Ventures (EEV) and Equinor Technology Ventures (ETV) to form Equinor Ventures (EV).
Gareth Burns took up a vice-president role to oversee the new unit and has continued to be based in London, as he was in his previous position as head of EEV.
The EV fund invests globally in startups that are developing innovative products and technologies in the energy supply chain. The unit can provide entrepreneurs with the corporate’s technical and financial know-how, as well as an accelerator and incubator scheme known as Equinor & Techstars Energy Accelerator.
EV’s mission is to seek out startups that can potentially create an impact on Equinor’s health, safety and environment guidelines, strategically enhance its current lines of business and reduce operational costs. The vehicle will also act as a liaison between the corporate and emerging technologies.
Equinor has most recently participated in the $190m series B round for KoBold Metals, a US-based developer of metal detection ty, as well as the $28m funding round for enterprise platform ContextLabs. It has also backed the $1.8bn series B round for Commonwealth Fusion, an MIT spinoff company which is focused on bringing fusion energy technology to market.
Burns, who holds a bachelor of science degree in actuarial science from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a fellow at the UK’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, has spent most of his career at Equinor and its predecessor Statoil, having joined in 1994.
