Schneider Electric and General Electric have returned to back the Invenergy-sponsored venture firm’s second vehicle, alongside LPs including American Electric Power, Equinor and Xcel Energy.
Energize Ventures, a US-based venture capital offshoot of power producer Invenergy, closed a $330m second fund yesterday featuring a host of corporate investors as limited partners (LPs).
Invenergy anchored the fund and was joined by backers including energy management technology producer Schneider Electric’s SE Ventures vehicle and industrial and power equipment maker General Electric’s GE Renewable Energy subsidiary.
Energy utilities American Electric Power, Equinor (through its Equinor Ventures subsidiary) and Xcel Energy also committed capital, as did financial services firm Credit Suisse, pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and property investment trust Hannon Armstrong. Unnamed institutional investors and family offices supplied 70% of the capital.
Formed in 2016, Energize Ventures has over $700m under management and targets energy technology developers focusing on process automation, decentralisation, risk mitigation, electrification and asset optimisation. It typically leads series A to C rounds, providing between $10m and $20m per deal.
Originally known as Invenergy Future Fund, Energize Ventures was spun off in 2018 when it launched a $150m debut fund. Invenergy, GE Renewable Energy and fellow General Electric unit GE Power, Schneider Electric and energy utility WEC Energy Group all backed the first vehicle and were joined by unnamed family offices, institutional and individual investors.
Energize Ventures has invested $165m out of its first fund, across 14 energy and critical infrastructure technology developers including Urbint, Zededa, DroneDeploy, Sitetracker and Volta.
