Venture capital fund Inven Capital of Czech utility group ČEZ has examined some 2,400 investment opportunities throughout Europe since 2015, selecting 14 for implementation, including two in the Czech Republic.
Companies from this portfolio have launched many innovative projects that will contribute to the fulfilment of global decarbonisation targets, whether in the area of hydrogen technologies, solar energy, energy efficiency and savings, or e-mobility.
“Inven Capital was very successful in the exits, selling their shares to global players: sonnen was bought by Shell and Cyber-X by Microsoft,” said Member of the Board of Directors and Chief Renewable Energy and Distribution Officer Tomáš Pleskač, referring to the two German companies which were the very first investments in 2015. “We are talking about a return of investment in hundreds of per cent. But equally valuable are the transfers of technologies, products and services into ČEZ’s offer, as was the case of the Israeli company Driivz. Our net of electric car charging stations has been running on Driivz´ software since last year.”
ČEZ Group and the European Investment Bank have backed Inven Capital with 240 million euro, of which approximately 130 million euro have already been invested.
“Over the last six years, we have helped our portfolio companies raise approximately 13 billion crowns [502.4 million euro] from global venture capital funds and many of our startups regularly score in the prestigious Global Cleantech 100 survey, announced by the consulting firm Cleantech Group, which confirms the correctness of our investment decisions,” added Director of Inven Capital Petr Míkovec.
Among the Czech companies, ČEZ Group recalled Neuron Soundware, whose unique artificial intelligence uses sound analysis to predict defects of escalators for the Prague Public Transit Company or of machines in the ŠKODA car paint shop.
Photo: ČEZ Group.
