Scottish Loan Fund backs Smarter Grid Solutions expansion with £2 million funding package
The Scottish Loan Fund (“SLF”), managed by Maven Capital Partners, has completed a £2 million mezzanine debt investment in Smarter Grid Solutions (“SGS”), enabling the company to accelerate product development and fund its continued expansion in the UK, Europe and the US.
Founded in 2008, with shareholders including the University of Strathclyde, the Scottish Investment Bank and Scottish Equity Partners, SGS has established itself as the UK leader in the development of Active Network Management solutions (“ANM”). ANM solutions are part-distributed control technologies allowing Distribution Network Operators to manage and integrate distributed renewable energy resources into the electrical grid, without the need to build new grid assets.
SGS is already affiliated with the New York City Accelerator for a Clean Resilient Economy (NYC ACRE), located within the Urban Future Lab, NYC’s premier facility for the cleantech and energy community, supporting company formation and showcasing innovation.
Richard Elliott, investment manager at Maven, said: “Smarter Grid Solutions is an exciting and dynamic technology business with a suite of fully developed market leading products ready to be deployed on a business-as-usual basis. With an impressive track record of already having worked with many leading Distribution Network Operators, the business is well placed to capitalise on the increasing demand in the market for ANM technology. We are therefore delighted to support SGS with this funding package from SLF as the business enters its next phase of growth.”
Maggie McGinlay, director of energy and clean technologies at Scottish Enterprise, said: “The implementation of smart grids will be key to the successful transition to a low carbon economy not just in Scotland, but globally. It’s fantastic to see a small, rapidly growing Scottish business leading the way in developing the technology to enable this and attracting some major global energy players as customers. Smarter Grid Solutions is a perfect example of how Scottish Enterprise support to assist innovation, investment and international growth combine to help a company achieve its ambitions and deliver sustainable growth for the Scottish economy.”
Gerry Docherty, chief executive at SGS, said: “We very much welcome the support of the Scottish Loan Fund. Smarter Grid Solutions is a real Scottish success story, developing from world-class research at the University of Strathclyde. We are now delivering innovative technology products that support the integration of renewable energy throughout the UK, and increasingly across North America. This funding package, together with additional in-market support from Scottish Development International, allows us to accelerate our penetration of the fast-growing international smart grid market.”
Financial due diligence was conducted by Dempster Solutions, Legals by BTO, and Insurance by Vista Insurance, and management referencing by Argyll Fenton.
To date the SLF has committed over £72 million in 28 businesses throughout Scotland to help them achieve their business plans and facilitate the next stage of growth.
For further information, please contact:
Maven Capital Partners
Richard Elliott 0141 206 0121 richard.elliott@mavencp.com
Newgate
Roddy Watt 0207 653 9850
Ed Treadwell
About the Scottish Loan Fund:
The Scottish Loan Fund was established in 2011 by the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, with £55 million public sector funding from Scottish Enterprise, the European Regional Development Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. In February 2011 Maven Capital Partners were selected as the fund manager.
Additional investment from private sector investors, including Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Clydesdale Bank, Santander, Strathclyde Pension Fund and Aberdeen City Council Pension Fund took the fund to its final size of £113 million in March 2012.
This fund was designed to address the market need for additional debt finance for SMEs. It provides mezzanine loan funding to growth and export businesses with an annual turnover of more than £1 million.
About Maven Capital Partners UK LLP: www.mavencp.com
Maven Capital Partners UK LLP (Maven) is a small-to-mid cap private equity house focused on the provision of growth capital and mezzanine finance to SMEs across the UK. It is one of the most active private equity fund managers in the country, managing over £350m of assets for a variety of client funds, including Venture Capital Trusts, the Scottish Loan Fund, Capital for Enterprise Fund A, the Greater Manchester Loan Fund and a syndicate of Investor Partners including a number of family offices and high net worth individuals.
Headquartered in Glasgow, and with five other offices throughout the UK, Maven has nationwide coverage of the market for SME finance and is introduced to around 400 deals per year through 20 regionally based investment executives. With over 45 staff and partners, Maven executes a range of private company transactions, offers hands-on proactive portfolio management to investee companies and provides a fully integrated back-office support function to client and third party fund managers.
About the Scottish Investment Bank
Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) is the investment arm of Scotland’s main economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise, operating Scotland-wide in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It manages a suite of co- investment funds including the Scottish Co-investment Fund and the Scottish Venture Fund, which are partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Renewable Energy Investment Fund and the Scottish Recycling Fund. SIB is the cornerstone investor in the privately-managed Scottish Loan Fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners and an investor in Epidarex Capital’s life sciences fund. Our investment funds support Scotland’s SME funding market to ensure businesses with growth and export potential have adequate access to growth capital. We also provide a team of financial readiness specialists to help companies prepare for new investment and access appropriate finance.
About Smarter Grid Solutions
Smarter Grid Solutions delivers products and services that enable Distributed Network Operators (DNOs) to integrate Distributed Energy Resources (DER). The company provides world-leading Active Network Management products, and is the only provider to uniquely combine real-time, autonomous and deterministic control into its Active Network Management solutions. Its products are transforming the utilisation and resilience of the grid, and managing connected customers at greatly reduced cost, without compromising safety and security. It supports customers worldwide from its offices in Glasgow, London and New York.
The company was formed in 2008, originating from the world-renowned Institute for Energy and Environment at the University of Strathclyde, and it is Europe’s leading vendor of DER integration solutions. It established its offices in New York in 2013, and is now an active contributor to the development of the Smart Grid in many parts of North America.
Traditionally, distribution across the grid was largely passive and predictable, but the advent of renewable generation (wind, solar), and changes in demand profile (electric vehicles, domestic energy management systems), have created a more dynamic environment, known as the smart grid. SGS’s control systems, including its flagship product ANM100, use real-time data to seamlessly integrate these new technologies and working practices to deliver smarter, more active networks. This maximises use of existing network capacity - creating up to three times more capacity - and ultimately reduces costs by up to 90%, both for generators and for end consumers. The demand for smart grids is increasing at pace, driven by regulatory initiatives, as the global energy industry looks to meet the challenges of delivering a lower carbon footprint by making better use of existing grids, thereby avoiding the need for large capital expenditure programmes to deliver new builds.
Contact Information
Julia McLaren
Engagement Partner
Scottish Enterprise
0300 013 3223
07801 794046