Paris, October 19, 2018: METRON, the France-based developer of an innovative energy intelligence platform for industry, has completed a new €8 million fundraising. The fundraising includes commitments from BNP Paribas, Financière Fonds Privés, which enables private investors to invest directly in high potential companies, and existing shareholder, Breed Reply, a leading active operational investor in early-stage Internet of Things businesses. The funds will enable METRON to accelerate its international growth, and the further development of its AI-based energy optimisation solutions. Since its creation in 2013, METRON has raised nearly €12 million, including this round.
Vincent Sciandra, CEO and Co-founder of METRON, says: " We have seen high levels of customer satisfaction, as customers experience lower than 12 months payback on their investment. I want to thank them for choosing METRON. This capital raise will enable us to change our commercial dimension, particularly in international markets where we already do 75% of our business. It will also allow us to develop our technology not only to transform energy into a profit centre in industry, but also to serve the new needs from energy sector players. We are delighted with our new shareholders, Financière Fonds Privés and BNP Paribas, as well as the continued support of Breed Reply. This is a real recognition of our ability to provide innovative and profitable solutions for the energy transition”.
METRON offers customers an energy intelligence platform which collects, aggregates and analyses in real time all types of data generated by industrial systems, while interfacing directly with external data, such as those from energy markets or weather forecasts. The artificial intelligence engine developed by METRON allows manufacturers to effectively reduce their energy consumption and improve their environmental footprint while entering the era of factory 4.0. This new fundraising will help to strengthen the financing of the company's R&D effort, which aims to become a key global player in industrial energy intelligence by 2022.
Yann Lagalaye, Head of Energy Transition Capital at BNP Paribas, says:
"BNP Paribas is committed to being a player in energy transition, and is investing €100 million in startups specialising in this field by 2022. Energy efficiency in industry is essential to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreements. METRON helps manufacturers to improve the energy efficiency of their plants with an innovative and incentive-based approach, perfectly meets this ambition. This is why we wanted to be involved with it at this pivotal moment in its technological, international and commercial development".
Founded in 2013, METRON will have in 2019 a team of around 100 experts (data scientists and energy engineers), helping manufacturers to maximize value from their energy data and deploy their energy efficiency projects within their production processes. METRON works in all sectors of industrial activities, including mining, steel, paper, glass, chemicals, automotive, food & beverage.
The startup, headquartered in Paris, is active in about ten countries and has six operational centres in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. It recently opened two new subsidiaries in Singapore and Sao Paulo to support its key accounts, in particular Danone having industrial sites currently being deployed throughout the world. METRON which has been supported in 2018 by the European accelerator EIT Digital wants to strengthen its international teams in 2019 and open new offices abroad.
Emanuele Angelidis, CEO, Breed Reply says: "METRON has demonstrated the robustness of its technology which has been adopted by a growing number of manufacturing companies around the world. We are excited to continue our support of METRON and the team led by CEO Vincent Sciandra”.
The METRON-EVA® Factory (Energy Virtual Assistant) platform provides real-time mapping of all energy flows and visual management of energy performance indicators. Through machine learning algorithms and dedicated knowledge bases, it allows companies to identify in industrial processes, non-intuitive optimization levers and to support their implementation to generate the expected gains. By interfacing directly with energy markets or decentralized energy assets such as renewable energies, factory operations can be optimized in real time according to production and market context.
"The Financière Fonds Privés investment committee and our investors have been impressed by METRON's management team and by the unique positioning it has built at the convergence of the digital revolution and the energy transition. The combination of Big Data, artificial intelligence and human expertise is a key success factor to accelerate METRON development", says Baptiste Proveau, Managing Partner at Financière Fonds Privés.
About METRON
Founded in 2013, METRON has developed an energy intelligence platform for industrial factories. By harnessing multiple sources of data generated by industrial systems, METRON Energy Virtual Assistant leverages latest machine learning capabilities and dedicated knowledge bases to proactively identify energy savings opportunities, connect to decentralised energy resources and turn energy into a profit centre. More than 70 experts, data scientists and energy engineers, work in Europe, Latin America, the Middle-East and Asia helping industrial clients in all sectors to maximize value from their energy data and support them with the implementation of energy efficiency optimisations.
About Breed Reply
Breed Reply, Reply's active operational investor, funds and supports the development of early-stage companies in the Internet of Things (IoT) in Europe and the USA. Based in London, with operational offices in Milan, Breed Reply supports entrepreneurs and young talent by quickly bringing new ideas to the market. This is done via three fundamental services: funding at early-stage level; active operational involvement with significant know how transfer of business, managerial and technological expertise; and go-to market support through the extensive Reply network. Breed Reply’s focus is the Internet of Things over all markets, with their current portfolio in Fitness & Wellness, Smart Building & Cities, Security, Industrial IoT and Platforms.
About Financière Fonds Privés
Financière Fonds Privés is dedicated to enabling Private Investors to invest directly in high potential companies in order to accelerate their growth. Financière Fonds Privés provides entrepreneurs with mutual access to investors who have selected them and who offer, not only their financial support, but their own network of former entrepreneurs as well. Financière Fonds Privés assists the companies in which it has invested and the private investors it has gathered for the round until they withdraw from the capital. The managers and partners of Financière Fonds Privés co-invest significantly in all the deals. Financière Fonds Privés is mainly involved in capital rounds ranging from €2 million to €10 million, and most frequently in a minority-scale context.
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is a leading bank in Europe with an international reach. It has a presence in 73 countries, with more than 196,000 employees, including around 149,000 in Europe. The Group has key positions in its three main activities: Domestic Markets and International Financial Services (whose retail-banking networks and financial services are covered by Retail Banking & Services) and Corporate & Institutional Banking, which serves two client franchises: corporate clients and institutional investors. The Group helps all its clients (individuals, community associations, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates and institutional clients) to realise their projects through solutions spanning financing, investment, savings and protection insurance. In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the European leader in consumer lending. BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail-banking model in Mediterranean countries, in Turkey, in Eastern Europe and a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Institutional Banking and International Financial Services activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas as well as a solid and fast-growing business in Asia-Pacific.
About EIT Digital Accelerator – Access to Finance
EIT Digital Accelerator provides tailor-made growth support for European tech scaleups by helping secure international customers and raise capital. The Accelerator team comprises more than 30 experienced business developers and finance experts operating from 15 cities across Europe, along with a hub in Silicon Valley. Since 2012, they have supported 300 startups who raised over €400 million in investment, with more than €100 million directly facilitated by the Accelerator. The programme was ranked 8th among the Top 20 Active Accelerators in the Global Accelerator Report 2016 by Gust. The Accelerator is part of EIT Digital, a leading European open innovation organisation. Its mission is to foster digital technology innovation and entrepreneurial talent for economic growth and quality of life in Europe. EIT Digital invests in strategic areas to accelerate the market uptake of research-based digital technologies and to bring entrepreneurial talent and leadership to Europe. EIT Digital is a Knowledge and Innovation Community of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Its headquarters is in Brussels with co-location centres in Berlin, Budapest, Eindhoven, London, Helsinki, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm and Trento, as well as a hub in Silicon Valley.
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