Amsterdam, The Netherlands – September 3, 2020 – The UK heat network control company Minibems has attracted a new round of funding from its current investors, led by SET Ventures and supported by Ascension Ventures. The investment is match-funded by The Future Fund, the United Kingdom government’s co-investment scheme for innovative and high growth companies. This new round will enable Minibems to strengthen its product development and service offering as it continues to grow in the heat network market across the UK and Europe. As part of the strategy, we are pleased to announce that Simon Gunter is joining the company as Executive Chairman.
With heating and cooling consuming half of Europe’s energy, the heat sector is increasingly being challenged to supply heat more efficiently and sustainably. With new legislation and regulation in the pipeline both the UK and Scottish governments, amongst other European countries, have reinforced the commitment to heat networks as a key technology to decarbonise and to meet climate goals.
Minibems is an Enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) platform and heat network managed service designed to de-carbonise the heat network market. The unique offering includes real-time online monitoring, automated optimisation, heat telematics for remote diagnosis and repairs, as well as metering and billing services. Minibems clients benefit from up to 40% lower fuel bills, 80% lower unplanned maintenance costs, and accurate and easy billing payment.
“The opportunity in heat networks continues to grow and Minibems is ideally positioned to capitalise on this with their unique offering. Heat networks need Minibems to become efficient and low carbon”, says Craig Douglas, Principal at SET Ventures. “We are eager to support Minibems in this growth trajectory and welcome Simon Gunter to the team.”
Incoming Executive Chairman, Simon Gunter, says, “The way buildings are designed and operated for heating and maintenance is inefficient and inaccurate respectively, and due for a fundamental change. We should be able to use technology to ensure we minimise energy usage, optimise maintenance cycles, reduce engineer call-outs, and assist companies in meeting current and future decarbonisation goals. I look forward to assisting Minibems in driving this change. Now is a very exciting time.”
Finian Parrick, CEO of Minibems: “Over the past twelve months, and despite the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen great resilience in the demand for our two target sectors: heat networks and smart buildings. This new investment allows us to accelerate the work we began a year ago, adding valuable services and unique features to our product offering. We are excited by this support by SET Ventures and Ascension Ventures in our goals of decarbonising the built environment and creating affordable heating for consumers.”
ABOUT SIMON GUNTER
Dr Simon Gunter joins Minibems as Executive Chairman. Simon has over 25 years of experience in communications technology companies, the lattermost 10 years in consumer and industrial IoT companies for home heating & smart metering and B2B opportunities in Transport and Insurance related offers. From building technology start-ups like AlertMe to exit, to advising corporates on strategy and market opportunities in a diverse range of sectors using IoT tech for a range of applications from in-building faults detection to international oil tanker shipping.
ABOUT SET VENTURES
Since 2007, Amsterdam-based SET Ventures has invested in European technology companies that impact the future of the energy system. SET Ventures focuses broadly on innovative energy generation, energy distribution & storage and energy efficiency. SET Fund III provides early growth-stage capital to ventures that shape the energy system transition through smart software and services-based business models. For more information please visit www.setventures.com.
ABOUT ASCENSION VENTURES AND FAIR BY DESIGN
Ascension Ventures backs exceptional entrepreneurs with big visions by providing capital, access to its network, and expert mentors to grow scalable businesses. Since 2013, we have invested in 100+ early-stage tech companies and current funds include the ASCEND SEIS (Seed), CENTAUR EIS (Seed+), and its Fair By Design social impact fund, helping to reduce poverty across the UK. Fair By Design is a movement dedicated to ending the Poverty Premium: people in poverty pay more for a range of products, including high-cost credit; rent-to-own products such as kitchen appliances; and insurance in less affluent postcodes. Our Campaign works with businesses, government, and regulators to design out the Poverty Premium. Our Venture Fund provides capital to help grow innovative ventures developing products that make markets fairer. For more information please visit www.ascensionventures.com.
