Q&A with Fernando Impuesto, general manager; Emilio Martínez, head of open innovation and corporate venturing; and Sergio García, head of venture building, Enagás Emprende
Spain-based natural gas supplier Enagás’s corporate venturing subsidiary, Enagás Emprende, counts Fernando Impuesto, general manager of the programme; Emilio Martínez, head of open innovation and corporate venturing; and Sergio García, head of venture building, on the team.
Regarding the team, Martínez said: “Fernando Impuesto is the general manager of Enagás Emprende. Sergio and I act very well-coordinated – I am responsible for the origination, funnel and technical analysis of the startups as well as the contact with the ecosystem, the communications, the awards or the public relations.
“Sergio is responsible for the investments of the startups I provide him, the negotiation with them, and also of the acceleration and management of the portfolio, the follow ons, and financial needs and the reporting to the corporation.”
Regarding the unit, Enagás CEO Marcelino Oreja said: “Innovation is essential to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by our process of opening up and international development, as well as those linked to the new uses of gas as a cleaner fossil fuel.
“It is only through these small companies that we will be able to provide flexibility to activities that would be impossible to carry out inside a large enterprise like Enagás.
“We are driving the future, we invest in and accelerate technologies and new business models. That is why we created Enagás Emprende.”
Strategic and Leadership measures:
1. How many collaborations with start-ups has your fund done in the last 12 months?
In 2020, we have collaborated with 14 startups from our portfolio with which we have realised projects and invested nearly $45.8m in total. In addition, we have participated with nine startups in incubation.
2. Top three portfolio companies: Satlantis (€2.75m), DualMetha (€790,000) and Solatom (€250,000).
Juan Tomás Hernani, CEO of Satlantis, said: “The five previous investors have played a strategic role in driving the company forward, and their trust has led us to become an environmental satellite solutions company, solving challenges such as detecting methane emissions, plastics in the sea and fires. In addition, with the financial capacity of the round, we are launching Satlantis International, responsible for development in the US, UK and United Arab Emirates”.
Jean-Jacques Dordain, president of Satlantis, added: “Since I joined the company, I have worked to connect the best technology with the services demanded by customers across the entire value chain. Enagás is the best example of this approach, which we will expand to the European Copernicus programme, ESA missions and the oil and gas sector.”
Miguel Frasquet, CEO of Solatom, also said: “This investment will allow us to replicate internationally a model that is working very well in Spain. The energy sector is undergoing major changes, and the situation we are experiencing due to covid-19 has only accelerated them. Initiatives such as Energía Positiva+ are fundamental. For us, it has allowed us to achieve something as important as the support of big energy companies like Enagás.”
3. Number of investments you have made in the past year:
Enagás Emprende has invested in three new startups and a fund with a total of nearly $575,000.
4. Number of collaboration engagements with your portfolio companies:
Enagás Emprende has collaborated with nine startups of our portfolio and with five new startups with a total of almost $19.7m.
5. Any contribution to the CVC or VC ecosystem you would like to highlight:
Intrapreneurship is one of the main activities of Enagás Emprende, Enagás Corporate Venture Capital for the investment and acceleration of startups and innovative technologies in the field of energy transition, with special emphasis on areas such as renewable gases (biogas and hydrogen), sustainable mobility, energy efficiency and digitalisation.
We lead a group of innovators from public and regulated companies.
6. Team expansion and recent promotions:
One of the team members has gone to Klima Energy Transition fund, the fund we have created, and we have replaced him with an experienced VC.
7. Plans for the year ahead:
We plan to invest €120m in the next five years in the Open Innovation and corporate venturing activity and have the ambition to manage an energy startup portfolio valued at €1bn in 2028.
8. Pain points and opportunities you have encountered in corporate venturing:
Pain points: correct alignment and understanding of the way of working of the corporate venturing activities compared with other related, but not equal activities, like M&A or R&D.
Opportunities: corporate venturing is the main solution to break the corporate innovation paradox that shows that main innovations and disruptions are coming from outsiders and startups and not corporates.
9. What do you think all corporations and CVCs could do better to make it a stronger industry?
Although it has existed for several decades the reality is that CVC, corporate venturing and open innovation, in general, is still a quite young and immature industry. Although many corporates have CVC programmes, the number of corporations that do not have one is much higher. In a way this is a missing function, that needs time to be considered an industry itself with its own methodologies, way of working and professionals.
I think we still may show better to our colleagues in our corporations the value of our duties and jobs, and show them that we do not have an alternative and that the unique way to compete with the fast-growing well-funded unicorns is trying to use, as a corporate, their same tools.
10. For colour, what did you do prior to your venture role or in your spare time?
I (Martínez) fostered entrepreneurship and innovation from the public and government side.
