“With our investment in Cloud&Heat Technologies we are further developing our activities in the decentralized energy space and smart solutions for customers. We expect that this investment will broaden our IT know-how while at the same time being deployed in the heating sector where we are proficient. ČEZ Group has acquired a minority stake including an advisory board seat,” Daniel Beneš, CEO of ČEZ commented on the investment.
Cloud&Heat Technologies designs, builds and operates green, water-cooled public as well as private cloud data centers. “The company is now for the sixth year building the most efficient distributed infrastructure for cloud computing with the highest security standards. We have selected this investment due to a unique mix of two worlds – IT and the energy sector,” Petr Míkovec, managing director and chairman of the board of INVEN CAPITAL notes.
Cloud&Heat Technologies has entered an already existing data center market, providing a solution that is unique in re-using up to 90% of server heat. The company delivers plug'n'play private local systems, large data centers as well as containerized solutions.
This is the fourth INVEN investment on the German market into a smart energy company. ČEZ has previously invested through INVEN CAPITAL into Sunfire, which develops and industrializes the most advanced energy technologies contributing to CO2 emission reduction and the development of decentralized energy sources, as well as into sonnen, the global leader in intelligent battery systems for energy storage for households. In addition to these smart customer-oriented power solutions, ČEZ is exploring the residential heating and cooling sector through its investment in tado°.
Cloud&Heat Technologies GmbH was founded in Dresden in 2011. The company has deployed their systems that re-use server heat for hot water and heating for commercial buildings at several locations in Germany. It employs dozens of people who are capable of fully delivering all aspects of the solution including hardware, software, and heating and IT operations.
INVEN CAPITAL is the venture capital arm of CEZ. INVEN CAPITAL’s strategy is to identify opportunities for investing in innovative smart energy firms in Europe. It targets later stage growth opportunities with a business model proven by sales and with significant growth potential. INVEN CAPITAL’s objective is to generate long-term value by actively cooperating with the management of the companies in which it invests and by actively supporting strategies for organic and/or acquisition growth. INVEN CAPITAL’s portfolio companies can take advantage of ČEZ’s extensive energy sector expertise, its customer base, and technology synergies.