The energy transition is underway, but few energy utility CVC funds have been more active, and invested in a wider range of technologies over the past year than Portugal-based EDP Ventures under the leadership of Luís Manuel.
Manuel has run EDP Ventures as executive director for more than 15 years, as well as managing its open innovation activities under the umbrella of EDP Inovação. The fund recently scored a profitable exit through Aliaxis’s acquisition of Zypho, a domestic provider of drain water recovery technology, more than a decade after backing the company at seed stage.
EDP has more than nine million customers across 30 countries, and that range is reflected in a team spread across three offices, including one in Brazil. That team sealed its first Latin American deal outside Brazil in February when it invested in Chile-based Splight, a developer of AI-powered technology that makes renewable energy installations more efficient.
Few energy utility CVC funds have been more active over the past year than EDP Ventures under the leadership of Luís Manuel
Last year, EDP Ventures, which has a team of 15, also doubled down on its US investments, taking part in rounds for Terabase Energy, a provider of automation software for solar project deployment, in addition to solar energy storage company Yotta Energy and direct ocean carbon capture startup Captura.
That diversity of technologies is part of an expansive outlook that spreads as wide as green hydrogen, mobility offerings and digital technology, supporting an overall corporate target of moving to 100% renewable energy provision by 2030. The unit can commit up to €10m per round through series B stage.
In addition to EDP Ventures, Manuel also continues to run the group’s renewables, grid technology and client solution-focused open innovation initiative, Energy Starter, now in its eighth edition, and is point man for EDP in utility accelerator partnership Free Electrons.
This is Manuel’s second consecutive year on the GCV Powerlist.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100
individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.