In less than a year, METRON, a key player in energy intelligence, has raised more than €20 Million to support its international growth and the development of its AI-driven digital solutions for industries.
Paris, June 27, 2019: METRON, an innovative French company in energy intelligence for industries, has announced a new €10 Million fundraising with NTT DOCOMO Ventures (Tokyo), StatKraft Ventures (Düsseldorf) and its current investors BNP Paribas (Paris) and Breed Reply (London).
Vincent Sciandra, CEO and Co-founder of METRON, states: "We are pleased to welcome as new shareholders NTT and Statkraft ventures, two leading international investors, as well as further investment particularly from BNP Paribas Energy Transition Capital. The profile of our shareholders, which also include Breed Reply, an IoT investor, Financière Fonds Privés and Airflux, perfectly reflect our strategy. We want to provide manufacturers with our digital platform so that they can take control of their energy management, independently and wherever they operate in the world, as Danone is currently doing with us.”
STRATEGIC, COMMERCIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
Since the last fundraising announced in October 2018, METRON, has accelerated its international expansion. METRON is now active in a dozen countries with operational centres in Europe (Paris, Milan), Latin America (São Paulo, Mexico City, Bogota), the Middle East (Dubai) and Asia (Singapore).
METRON expansion in Japan will be supported by NTT DOCOMO Ventures. President and CEO, Takayuki Inagawa, said: "Beyond our investment, we look forward to promoting a partnership between METRON and NTT FACILITIES, an NTT group company involved in energy management for industrial installations. The partnership will make the solution commercially available in the Japanese market and will contribute to the new smart energy business of the NTT group. The METRON solution is unique as it uses ontological technology and machine learning to continuously optimize energy during the production process.”
To develop its business in France, METRON has entered into a strategic partnership with Dalkia, a French leader in energy efficiency, to launch an innovative joint offer, Dalkia analytics powered by METRON. This will manage the energy and environmental performance of industrial sites and achieve energy savings of up to 15%.
Furthermore, new products have been designed as an extension to the existing METRON platform. The products will enable the optimization of energy and reduction of carbon emissions in the area of Virtual Power Plants. The aim is to manage decentralized energy production assets, particularly renewable ones, in order to optimize their value; or in the area of electro-mobility, where the optimization of EV charging will become a key issue.
"We have analyzed many companies trying to unlock the enormous potential for energy efficiency in factories. METRON has successfully built a unique solution using artificial intelligence to achieve very rapid energy savings and carbon reductions in factories, even in the most complex technical environments. METRON’s position as the leader in this area is well deserved. We are looking forward to supporting this great team of entrepreneurs." says Dr. Matthias Dill, Managing Director of Statkraft Ventures, a leading energy fund in Europe.
METRON's disruptive vision, strategy and technology were also recognized this year by BloombergNEF, which each year designates ten "New Energy Pioneers" for their leadership in transformative technologies to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy around the world.
HISTORICAL INVESTORS BACK METRON AGAIN
As historical investors, Yann Lagalaye, Head of Energy Transition Capital at BNP Paribas and Emanuele Angelidis, CEO of Breed Reply, conclude: "Industrial clients are adopting the METRON platform because of its ease of implementation and the quick energy savings they can achieve. Major international partnerships such as the one with Dalkia in France will help accelerate METRON’s growth. The new investors announced today reinforce METRON's strategic positioning and illustrate its international ambitions. We wish to renew our confidence in the METRON team, in a context where the low-carbon and digital transition of industries is accelerating.”
About METRON
METRON aims to transform energy into a profit centre in the industrial sector. METRON, an international technology company founded in 2013 in France, has developed an energy intelligence AI driven platform dedicated to the industrial sector. The METRON-EVA® Factory (Energy Virtual Assistant) platform leverages the multiple data sources already available in plants and takes advantage of advanced technologies to proactively identify energy optimization opportunities and connect to decentralized energy assets. More than 80 energy experts, data scientists and specialized engineers are currently working in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. They support manufacturers in all sectors of activity to maximize the value of their data and enable them to take control of their energy management
About NTT DOCOMO Ventures
NTT DOCOMO Ventures, the NTT Group's corporate venture capital firm, aims to accelerate innovation for the creation of new services, disruptive technologies and innovative processes serving as a primary channel for startup companies and venture communities on behalf of the NTT Group, Japan's leading ICT service provider. We proactively enhance cooperation with exceptional entrepreneurs on a worldwide scale by providing capital from our corporate venture funds and vast business development opportunities with the NTT Group companies.
About StatKraft Ventures
Statkraft Ventures GmbH is a European venture capital firm working with exceptional entrepreneurs driving fundamental change in the energy sector. The company is exit-driven and backed by the Statkraft Group, Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy.
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is a leading bank in Europe with an international reach. It has a presence in 73 countries, with more than 196,000 employees, including around 149,000 in Europe. The Group has key positions in its three main activities: Domestic Markets and International Financial Services (whose retail-banking networks and financial services are covered by Retail Banking & Services) and Corporate & Institutional Banking, which serves two client franchises: corporate clients and institutional investors. The Group helps all its clients (individuals, community associations, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates and institutional clients) to realise their projects through solutions spanning financing, investment, savings and protection insurance. In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the European leader in consumer lending. BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail-banking model in Mediterranean countries, in Turkey, in Eastern Europe and a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Institutional Banking and International Financial Services activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas as well as a solid and fast-growing business in Asia-Pacific.
About Breed Reply
Breed Reply, Reply's active operational investor, funds and supports the development of early-stage companies in the Internet of Things (IoT) in Europe and the USA. Based in London, with operational offices in Milan, Breed Reply supports entrepreneurs and young talent by quickly bringing new ideas to the market. This is done via three fundamental services: funding at early-stage level; active operational involvement with significant know how transfer of business, managerial and technological expertise; and go-to market support through the extensive Reply network. Breed Reply’s focus is the Internet of Things over all markets, with their current portfolio in Fitness & Wellness, Smart Building & Cities, Security, Industrial IoT and Platforms.
About Financière Fonds Privés
Financière Fonds Privés is dedicated to enabling Private Investors to invest directly in high potential companies in order to accelerate their growth. Financière Fonds Privés provides entrepreneurs with mutual access to investors who have selected them and who offer, not only their financial support, but their own network of former entrepreneurs as well. Financière Fonds Privés assists the companies in which it has invested and the private investors it has gathered for the round until they withdraw from the capital. The managers and partners of Financière Fonds Privés co-invest significantly in all the deals. Financière Fonds Privés is mainly involved in capital rounds ranging from €2 million to €10 million, and most frequently in a minority-scale context.
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