What happens when a chemical engineer, who has already built a hydrogen drone, becomes a venture capitalist? Energy revolution companies (ERV), what is it? The venture capitalist has now closed an $18 million seed and Series A fund to invest in cutting-edge technologies, such as energy storage, carbon capture and, of course, hydrogen.
Marcus Clover, co-founder and partner at ERV told TechCrunch: “I studied at Cambridge and thought I was going to go into oil and gas. I ended up getting hired as employee #1 at an aerospace startup. We were building a hydrogen-powered drone for telecom applications.
After working for five years, he joined another company installing hydrogen fuel cells in heavy vehicles: “I saw first-hand, as an engineer working in this field, how important the Innovation was happening in the energy sector. I realized I needed to get into it from the investing side. That's when I teamed up with two of my partners.
The 2023 Vintage Fund includes family office LPs in the metals and energy sector, high net worth individuals and Bidra Innovation Venturesthe corporate venture capital branch of the Moroccan group OCP. ERV already has a portfolio of nine companies, including Green Li-ion (recycling of lithium-ion batteries), Anthro (structural and safe batteries), and Oort Energy (low-cost renewable H₂).
ERV has both a fund and a venture capital creator, called Prosemino. The idea is that the fund can both invest in independent startups and create new businesses, based on its internal technical expertise. It relies on a network of advisors, spread across the University of Oxford and University College London. It has also built specialized laboratories to support its startups.
“We have 4,000 square feet of wet and dry chemistry laboratory space here in London. We believe this is the only laboratory of its kind outside of Europe, not linked to a university,” Clover said.
ERV's strategy is based on the idea that many innovations are about to occur in the field of chemistry, particularly in the field of energy.
“When I was working on hydrogen, in 2015/2016, well before the latest hydrogen hype cycles, the most advanced technology was in the space sector. We were trying to reuse it for airplanes. Doing this job teaches you a lot about how to rethink things from first principles and how to operate in small teams with tight budgets. So I can relate to a lot of the companies that we have now invested in,” Clover said.
He added that the company's thesis is not just about decarbonization, but also about electrification: “It's more than just generating electricity. We still need to store energy, transmit it to where it is needed, and then electrify huge swaths of the economy… We are literally rewiring the economy, and we need enormous amounts of technology to do so. achieve. We saw how software made launching space rockets cheaper and more efficient. I believe the same thing is going to happen with energy, and that's the really exciting part of the story.
TechCrunch covered two of the companies invested in ERV's portfolio: Anthro-energy their $7.2 million funding round was led in part by ERV, and Divigas is in the wallet.
Clover said that while some investors are focused on decarbonization, growth through electrification “is even more attractive from a market perspective.”
To date, ERV Fund 1 has made nine investments, including:
Blixt – Developers of software power electronics. The startup has been selected to join the NATO Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) program.
Écolectro – Innovators of new polymers designed for the next generation of hydrogen industry electrolyzers.
Intangible – Creators of cheap and durable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) designed for carbon capture, gas separation and purification purposes.
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