One of Europe’s leading providers of high-performance portable battery systems, Instagrid, announced a Series C funding round of €87 million. The round was led by Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), with participation from Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s (MSIM) 1GT climate private equity strategy. Existing investors Energy Impact Partners, SET Ventures, blueworld.group, and Hightech Gründerfonds, as well as the chair of the advisory board, Pierre-Pascal Urbon, also contributed to the round.
Founded in 2018, Instagrid more than doubled revenues in 2023 and will use the funding to continue its growth by entering the North American market, increasing production and expanding its range of mobile power solutions to decarbonise off-grid power.
Instagrid co-founder and co-CEO Dr Sebastian Berning, said: “Our innovative products have already proven themselves in the market to customers across Europe, and the environmental and health benefits of our portable batteries over combustion generators have been demonstrated. Thanks to our unique, proprietary technology, we are sector-leading and peerless in terms of reliability, power, and durability. Our products are significantly more compact, powerful, and mobile than other battery systems. Securing funding from such long-term strategic and experienced partners reflects our strong momentum and will enable us to build on the technology that underpins our success and bring more category-defining products to the market in the near future.”
Providing a sustainable alternative to the fossil fuel generators used to power mobile work in construction, film, events and emergency services, Instagrid has shipped close to 30,000 units of its flagship product in 29 countries since it launched two years ago. With strong demand for clean mobile power solutions expected to continue, backed by supportive policy developments in both Europe and North America, there is a large opportunity set and a mature addressable market for Instagrid’s technology. As part of its North American expansion, Instagrid has hired US CEO, Rich Romer, and plans to open offices, hire across divisions, and launch new products for use in the United States and Canada.
Instagrid’s flagship Instagrid ONE is lightweight and mobile enough to be used in the most remote locations and powerful enough to match the performance of the grid, making it possible to use electricity from renewable sources in any location. On a single charge, the Instagrid ONE portable battery is powerful enough to run welding equipment for an entire day’s work, pump over 55,000 litres of water with a large submersible pump or cut through hundreds of metres of concrete with heavy duty equipment, as well as a host of other commercial applications.
Instagrid is building on their proven technology to offer a full range of mobile battery solutions. Their upcoming large-scale system will power entire film sets or construction sites at a fraction of the size and emissions of comparable systems. Instagrid products boast zero exhaust emissions, as well as up to 97% lower carbon footprints and 82% lower lifetime costs compared to generators.
Avid Larizadeh-Duggan, Senior Managing Director and Head of TVG in EMEA, added: “More than 50 million small, non-road combustion engines are built each year – almost all of these should be replaced by battery systems which are lower carbon, lower total cost and create a far better work environment for operators. Instagrid is making this transition possible, for the first time, by engineering battery systems which outperform the peak power of gas generators, making renewable energy accessible to businesses en masse. We have seen that Instagrid’s customers love the product and we are excited about the opportunity for Instagrid to work with our real estate, infrastructure and other portfolio companies to help them decarbonise operations in a meaningful way. We’re delighted to partner with Sebastian, Andreas and the team and to welcome Instagrid to our portfolio.”
Instagrid customers span sectors including construction, film industry, events and media, and emergency services. Notable instagrid customers include Skanska, Loxam (Europe’s leading construction rental company), Swiss Federal Railways, and the Red Cross. Instagrid is also part of the Clean Power Mobile Initiative, funded by Netflix and Disney. Users can also rent an Instagrid unit at locations across Europe.
As part of the investment round, Kieran Mahanty, TVG’s climate lead for EMEA, will join Instagrid’s Board. To date, Instagrid has raised more than $145 million. Additional existing investors include Segnalita Ventures and Wille Finance AG.
Vikram Raju, MSIM’s Head of Climate Private Equity Investing and 1GT, said: “Reducing emissions in highly CO2 intensive sectors like construction and logistics are squarely in focus for Morgan Stanley’s 1GT fund. With Instagrid we are fortunate to have found the opportunity to back a visionary team with a game changing technology and a compelling growth trajectory. We are very pleased to join the Instagrid family, along with our partners TVG, and bring Morgan Stanley 1GT’s sustainability enhancing capabilities to support the company on the next phase of their promising journey to revolutionise the way construction and logistics are powered.”
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- Source: https://www.eu-startups.com/2024/01/stuttgart-based-instagrid-bags-e87-million-series-c-to-expand-clean-portable-power-to-the-north-american-market/
