Singapore's cross-border VC firm Decacorn Capital enters Europe with an investment in Estonian startup GridIO
Singapore-based cross-border VC firm Decacorn Capital has announced its entry into the European market with an investment in Estonian energy-tech startup GridIO.
The VC firm already has a presence in Israel and the US, besides Singapore.
Debneel Mukherjee, Founding Managing Partner at Decacorn Capital, said: “After a full evaluation of the startup ecosystem around Europe, we believe that within Europe, the Baltic region is the readiest for a cross-border play. While it lacks a large domestic market, the region has a high level of technical skills and the entrepreneurs have the audacity to gun for the tall order.”
“Having seen Israel from close quarters evolve as the startup nations of the world, we would like to term Estonia as the ‘startup nation of Europe’ boasting the highest number of a startup per capita in Europe. World-class startups like Skype, Tansferwise, Bolt, Playtech, Funderbeam, and Monese were germinated in Estonia before making it to the hall of fame,” he added.
Founded by Konrad Hanschmidt and Sandor Liive, GridIO is a platform that enables smart demand management for electrical grids, benefiting both electricity distributors and consumers. A B2B2C IoT startup, it basically connects households and commercial electricity devices — including air-conditioners, electric water heaters, as well as electric vehicles charging stations — to power markets.
It can adjust the power consumption of major electrical devices when, for example, wind turbines suddenly stop due to unexpected wind conditions. This avoids power disruptions, and households get paid for the capacity freed up that way.
GridIO says that it is already eyeing electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps as the next generation of devices to integrate into its platform and growing the home ecosystem.
“While we had liked the GridIO platform, it was the confidence of the founders commercialise the technology reinforced our belief that GridIO will become a great energy-tech disruptor,” commented Mukherjee.
Decacorn, licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), curates technology-led, game-changing businesses, from around the world, that are building globally relevant disruptive innovations. In August, Decacorn Capital led an investment round in Singapore-based foodtech startup Ai Palette.