Interested in launching your own startup in the zero carbon space? Look no further.
As a corporate venture builder, ENGIE Factory takes a strategic approach to building and investing in new founders and ventures. The promise of a financial return alone is not enough for us to invest in a startup. We balance the requirement for financial gain with strategic benefit for the wider ENGIE group and, most importantly, the benefit for the planet and society.
Sound interesting to you? This is what we look for in new founders and venture opportunities.
New to energy? No problem. We believe that talent comes from all backgrounds. Regardless of education or previous experience, we look to partner with individuals that share our values and mission. We look for people who have proven that they can achieve ambitious goals and enjoy solving difficult problems. People who are able to keep going when things get tough and have the ability to inspire action from those around them.
In the early days of launching a startup, the team is the most important factor. With the right team and a strong focus on execution, any challenge or difficulty that pops up can be overcome. We look for talented individuals that have the right mindset to lead companies through uncertainty and the perseverance to overcome obstacles as they come.
Our venture build program is designed to deliver investment-grade venture opportunities. Unlike other accelerator programs, we don’t ask teams to pitch to us and then pick the best ideas. We partner with founders, and our cohort size is based on the available investment. So far we’ve invested in all of our ventures.
Founders select areas of interest and sectors based on their passions, experience and network. We work with founders during the program to iterate, prototype and test ideas until we find an investment grade venture opportunity.
Unique in Singapore, ENGIE Factory focuses exclusively on the zero carbon space. We invest in ideas related to energy efficiency, green mobility, smart cities and renewable energy.
Globally, more energy is wasted than used every year
Buildings and Industry are some of the biggest consumers of energy and are responsible for 34% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Much of this energy is wasted because it is used unnecessarily or poorly managed.
We are interested in technologies that optimize usage or transform wasted energy, paired with new business models, that can reduce the amount of energy needed to power our buildings and businesses while also saving money and adding value to our clients.
Green mobility
Half of all energy used is on transportation
Millions of people commute to work every day by car, and hundreds of thousands of trucks transport our goods. These vehicles are the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution – leading to millions of deaths each year.
Despite the promise of electric vehicles dramatically lowering pollution, it is not fast enough. We want to accelerate the transition away from combustion engines and fossil fuels by removing barriers to the adoption of electric vehicles.
In many markets, the cost of electric vehicles is not competitive with gasoline powered engines, and consumers are concerned about the lack of supporting infrastructure. We see promise in providing new forms of financing, and investing in infrastructure to address some of these obstacles.
Smart cities
Better outcomes for society
‘Smart cities’ can be a catch-all buzzword devoid of any real meaning. But the fundamental idea of living in smarter ways is still a good one.
Data and insight enables us to be more aware of the way we live, observe our behavior, and correct the aspects of life we want to improve.
We believe in business models which can create, capture and utilize data to help us become more conscious of our impact to provide better outcomes for citizens, businesses, and governments. This could mean providing insights to homeowners to help them lower their energy consumption, helping businesses understand how to better retain employees or helping cities avoid the next natural disaster.
Renewable energy
ENGIE group is committed to doubling its installed renewable energy generating capacity by 2025, and ENGIE Factory contributes to this
Renewable energy can not only improve our environment, but also our communities. Renewable energy is not only cleaner than fossil fuels, but for the first time in history, it is cheaper. Global access to cheaper energy can help to reduce poverty, make food more plentiful, and reduce conflict between nations.
We believe economics is the key. New sources of energy must be cheaper than old ones, without subsidies. We won’t be inventing the next battery technology, but with the right business model we would like to scale those batteries globally. We look for ideas which can help us provide renewable energy to industry and consumers, connect the millions of people who still do not have access to reliable electricity, and can help to make the most of the renewables that we already have.
We believe in empowering the talented founders to build and shape ventures according to the needs of the market and customers, not our opinions. We do not seek to always maintain majority shareholding or have more rights than other investors. We target shareholdings of 30% or less, providing plenty of equity to reward founders, early employees and co-investors.
We want to be the best partner our founders have ever had. In addition to capital, we provide the tools and support to help founders achieve their ambitious goals. We provide industry expertise through the ENGIE network, access to the investor community and help with hiring exceptional talent.
All of the ventures we build and invest in must share a mutual benefit with ENGIE’s existing businesses. This ensures that all of our activities are moving toward our shared vision of the future and are strategically aligned.
Every new venture must have an ENGIE executive sponsor that will assist in the venture’s growth by being the bridge between the new venture and ENGIE’s core business. New ventures benefit from access to ENGIE’s network but also provide benefits back to the group. This could be from creating upsell and cross-sell opportunities with existing clients, openly sharing data and market information or spearheading entry into new markets and customer segments.
SustainX is a SaaS platform designed to help financial institutions lower the cost of deploying sustainability-linked loans for the SME segment in ASEAN markets. The solution aims to address challenges for both FIs and SMEs by acting as the largest behind-the-scenes facilitator of Medium Enterprise decarbonisation projects.
EnShare works with REITs and multiple building owners in Australia to optimize rooftop solar and storage installation, as well as aggregate capacity for participation in Australian energy market. Building owners are able to meet ESG targets and receive revenue share
from energy sale to tenants, who in turn access green energy at up to 25% lower tariffs.
EVDots was a startup originally under ENGIE Factory that has now become part of a ComfortDelgro Engie JV that is dedicated to the roll out of EV charging infrastructure and supporting the transition to sustainable transportation. The goal is to provide the entire ecosystem, from renewable energy production to EV charging systems to electric vehicles on the road.
ORkA is an advanced digital system that easily allows customers to input their energy information – about their buildings, factories, and businesses – and get a clear and professional improvements report instantly. Then, depending on the ROI of each action plan the customer makes an informed decision to choose the best for them, ORkA also offers financing and deployment of the solution.
PHNXX is a modular microgrid solution that provides customers with reliable, sustainable and cost-effective power on demand to suit their unique energy consumption profiles. PHNXX solution offers multiple sources of renewable energy generation coupled with battery storage and managed by an integrated Smart Energy Management System to meet customer energy demands without relying on the grid.
Entarctic maximizes energy efficiency in cold warehouses by reducing the electricity bills of cold storage facilities by up to 30% while ensuring safe temperatures. Its solution is quick-to-install and instantly makes customers’ cold room more energy efficient and sustainable. It is installed with no disruptions to operations and delivered on a pay-as-you-save or buy-and-own model.
GetSolar is a digital-first solar company in Singapore and is one of the first in the region to provide zero upfront cost, rooftop solar-as-a-service for smaller commercial and residential property owners. Customers now have a way to get instant solar savings without putting any money down, and in a risk-free approach.
Carbon Compass is decarbonising the mining sector by aggregating energy-related data from mid-tier mine sites to accelerate their deployment of renewables. Carbon Compass’s digital solution creates different simulations of renewable energy assets to help miners optimise their energy stack with different configurations of renewables.
TablePointer is an energy management-as-a-service for food and beverage outlets. Decentralized facilities like food and beverage outlets in Asia use 4X more energy per sqm versus office buildings and profit margins are hit by over 15% from energy wastages. TablePointer’s intelligent energy and asset manager helps decentralized facilities optimize energy efficiency, monitor assets and upgrade profitability.
BillionBricks is developing solar housing communities by combining effective technologies for solar houses with renewable energy models. BillionBricks’ innovative design makes it possible to build net-zero homes to foster homebuyer inclusiveness and reduce the carbon emission of the built industry. Projects are being deployed now in the Philippines to create net zero communities.