Enea Innowacje and NCBR Investment Fund ASI will invest together in innovative technology start-ups in the growth and expansion phase

Enea Innowacje – the Enea Group company focusing on innovative business and development of an innovation projects portfolio – signed a master cooperation agreement with NCBR Investment Fund ASI S.A. (NIF). NIF is a co-investment venture capital fund specializing in investments in small and medium-sized technology companies. Enea Innowacje and NIF will join forces in the performance of investment processes for start-ups offering solutions for the energy and related industries.

– Innovative technologies and solutions are critically important for the energy industry. They drive its development and have a positive effect on the sector’s transition towards the zero-emission goal, which is exceedingly important in the current times. I do hope that Enea Innowacje’s cooperation with NCBR Investment Fund ASI will bring about measurable effects – namely the development of promising start-ups, whose ideas can be applied also in the Enea Group –  Paweł Szczeszek, President of Enea’s Management Board, said.

– We are glad that we have been selected by the NCBR Investment Fund ASI as a co-investment partner. The purpose of our cooperation is to originate projects and companies with significant global growth potential, which already have a ready product or service but need additional financial support to grow on the mass market. I believe that the common goal that we share with our new partner will contribute to our success – said Jacek Dziuba, President of the Enea Innowacje Management Board.

According to the partnership agreement, Enea Innowacje will manage the common investment portfolio. The portfolio will be managed by a professional team, whose job is to invest common funds on market terms in shares of companies in the growth or expansion phase, which already commercialize the results of earlier research and development work.

– We will select, assess and analyze investment projects and make decisions to enter and exit the co-investments in portfolio companies. The amount of each investment will depend on the actual needs of each company for financing, and on the assessment of attractiveness of the project. Our activities will aim to maximize the value of our investees, the portfolio companies, and to maximize the value of the whole asset portfolio – explains Michał Smyk, Director of the Innovative Project Preparation and Execution Department, responsible for equity investments in Enea Innowacje.

– At the current stage, we do not restrict the range of investment areas. From our point of view, it is critical that the projects are innately Polish, have the R&D component and a significant growth potential. NIF focuses on startups, but on the growth and expansion phase rather than the initial stage of their development – said Krzysztof Szubert, President of the NIF Management Board.– I am sure that our cooperation and co-investments with Enea Innowacje will make a significant contribution to the support for and market success of many ambitious companies and projects – Krzysztof Szubert emphasizes.

In parallel, Enea Innowacje develops its own investment portfolio, which consists of innovative investment, research and development and business projects. The Company is able to provide start-ups with equity support contributed in one or more rounds of financing. What is important, within the framework of such cooperation with the start-up, it may obtain access to Enea Group’s resources, such as technical infrastructure, sales channels, business relations or expert knowledge. What encourages young companies to undertake cooperation is the ability to carry out a pilot in the next stage of cooperation, or even implement a finished product, service or technology in one of Enea Group’s companies.

– At Enea Innowacje, we continue to seek innovative ideas, initiatives and growing companies at any stage of development. We do not limit our activity to the energy sector only, but take a broader view. The areas, in which we seek modern business and technology solutions include primarily circular economy, energy storage, new RES technologies, electromobility, smart city, big data, artificial intelligence, automation, IoT and customer service. We would like to encourage all founders of start-ups, creators and innovators, to contact us and send us your ideas and projects – said Adam Klinert, Managing Director at Enea Innowacje.

Projects are accepted on a continuous basis through a dedicated site: www.enea.pl/innowacje-wspolpraca.