Scale Energy, a developer of industrial battery storage systems, secured €2 million (~$2.1 million) in an oversubscribed seed funding round led by Climentum Capital, an early-stage climate tech investor, with participation from Vireo Ventures and existing shareholders Antler and P3A.
Angel investors participating in the round include Dr. Christine Prauschke, former Chief Digital Officer at Enpal and CEO at Leadity; Henning Gebhardt, former Global Head of Equities at DWS; and Thomas Rüschen, former Deutsche Bank Wealth Management senior executive. Further industrial expertise comes from the Frankfurt-based family office SKR Capital.
Battery projects will be financed through a capex facility provided by a DACH-based energy-focused infrastructure investor with a commitment of 100 MW.
The funding is expected to help the Berlin-based company increase its operational footprint across Germany. It aims to roll out 10 GW of decentralized storage projects over the next decade, stating that any organization with a grid connection exceeding 1,000 kilowatts can use its services.
“Scale Energy is not only unlocking an immense problem in the energy transition, but the team is also solving financial scaling challenges. Few companies manage early on to bundle venture and infrastructure CapEx financing into a convincing structure that enables attractive offerings for industrial customers,” said Dörte Hirschberg, General Partner at Climentum Capital.
According to Mercom’s Annual and Q4 2024 Funding and M&A Report for Energy Storage and Smart Grid, Venture Capital funding in the Energy Storage sector in 2024 decreased 60% year-over-year, with $3.7 billion in 84 deals compared to $9.2 billion in 86 deals in 2023.
In 2024, Ampd Energy, a battery energy storage solutions provider for heavy industries, raised $27.3 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round. Kibo Invest and Openspace co-led the funding round, with participation from existing investors MTR Lab, Taronga Ventures, and 2150.
