Maven Capital Partners invests £2 million in Guru Systems

Maven Capital Partners has invested £2 million in London-based Guru Systems which provides B2B IoT hardware, software, and analytics solutions to energy companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

It marks Maven’s sixth VCT-funded transaction of 2021 and will support Guru’s investment in sales and marketing resource, as well as the development and roll-out of new software and hardware products for heat networks and adjacent markets.

Guru’s carbon saving monitoring technology has been developed to initially focus on heat networks where heat generation is centralised and supplied to consumers via a network of underground pipes carrying hot water.

These networks avoid the need for individual boilers or electric heaters in every building and are one of one the most cost-effective ways of reducing carbon emissions from heating. Their efficiency and carbon-saving potential is expected to increase as they cover more properties, become interconnected, and increasingly utilise large scale heat pumps as well as combined heat and power plants, and heat recovered from industry and waste.

Domestic heating alone accounts for 13% of the UK’s annual emissions footprint, which is comparable to the contribution of all petrol and diesel cars on UK roads, and low carbon heat networks are a fundamental part of the UK’s decarbonisation strategy. The Climate Change Committee expects the proportion of UK heating delivered via heat networks to rise from 2% to at least 20% by 2050.

Guru’s hardware can be fitted to new-build developments or retrofitted to capture data from existing heat networks and other onsite energy systems. Its software then uses AI-driven analytics to provide complete visibility over the system from a bird’s eye view all the way down to the performance in each individual dwelling. This helps its client’s identity performance issues, improve efficiency, and reduce carbon emissions.

David Milroy, Partner at Maven Capital Partners, said Guru represents an exciting opportunity for our VCTs to invest in a trusted supplier of carbon saving IoT technology.

"As a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, residential heating presents one of the greatest challenges in global and UK efforts to achieve net-zero emission," he said. "Heat networks have a major role to play but, like standalone domestic boilers, they can be hampered by inefficiency. This makes Guru’s sophisticated monitoring and AI-driven analytics technology very attractive to developers and operators as they strive to build efficient and cost-effective heating systems."

Casey Cole, CEO at Guru, said Maven’s investment in Guru Systems enables it to capitalise on the significant growth of low carbon heating in the UK and beyond.

"Our technology supports both the digitalisation and decarbonisation of heat, two of the biggest challenges we face in the transition to a net-zero emissions future. For our clients, the housing associations, local authorities and private developers who build and manage residential developments, our technology allows them to make their energy systems more transparent, lower cost and lower carbon."

Private equity deals rise to meet transition needs

Deals are rising in the private equity sphere as the energy sector seeks investment for sustainable and renewable solutions.

EnMass Energy, a digital procurement and operations platform targeting global waste-to-energy supply chains, recently received $2.15 million of equity investments.

EnMass caters to the entire supply chain, from supplier identification through transportation logistics and delivery audits, speeding up the process of converting usable waste products into new energy sources and saving valuable time for enterprise clients. The seed round was led by Blue Bear Capital, and also included Looking Glass Capital and Climate Cloud, along with a number of angel investors.

"EnMass is unlocking a new category of circular, regional energy economies by combining the innovative instinct of digital technology entrepreneurs with the practical experience of hands-on project developers," said Ernst Sack, Partner, Blue Bear Capital. 

Ara Partners, an industrial decarbonisation-focused private equity firm, recently announced that it has acquired Anesco Holdings, the parent company of the Anesco Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Anesco is a UK renewable energy company that manages the development, design, construction, maintenance and market optimisation of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. It has developed more than 115 solar farms and energy storage facilities, including the UK's first solar farm free from subsidies, while its operations and maintenance service now has close to 1.2GW of renewable assets under management.

Mark Futyan, who joined Anesco as CEO in 2020, said: "This is a pivotal moment for Anesco, as we gear up to deliver the next wave of large scale, subsidy-free solar and energy storage capacity."

Last week Waterous Energy Fund announced the closing of the amalgamation of its two portfolio companies, Strathcona Resources and Osum Oil Sands Corp. In a statement, it claims the transaction creates the largest private equity-owned oil producer in North America.

Adam Waterous, CEO of WEF, said: "Over the past four and a half years we have built Strathcona by consolidating complementary businesses to create a premier energy company with strong ESG fundamentals and the ability to pay substantial dividends to shareholders. Pro forma for the Osum merger, Strathcona is a stronger business that can both defensively withstand market volatility and offensively continue its consolidation strategy."

Private equity firm Hull Street Energy has acquired 100% of the ownership interests in the Waterbury Generation facility from a subsidiary of ENGIE North America. The facility is in Waterbury, Connecticut and provides 96MW of flexible natural gas power capacity to the New England region. In May it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the management team and development pipeline of Foundation Solar Partners.