Reverion Raises €8.5m to Enter Series Production of Power Plants of the Future
Munich, April 25, 2023 – Reverion, the climate tech start-up for renewable energies, raises EUR 8.5 million to accelerate the production of their revolutionary clean power plants. UVC Partners, Green Generation Fund, Extantia Capital, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, and biomethane trader Landwärme GmbH participate in the round.
The investors' fresh capital will be used to expand the production of 100 kW and 500 kW biogas power plants. Both plant sizes have recently received significant demand from customers. In addition, Reverion has received EUR 12 million of research capital, which will be used to develop the plants.
With Reverion’s new technology, existing biogas operators can increase their revenue by up to 400 percent using the same amount of biomass. The company’s upcoming Series A fundraise aims to scale production to meet anticipated market demand for gigawatts of renewable capacity.
100 percent more efficiency and no harmful CO2 emissions
Reverion’s mission is to replace as many of the world’s conventional power plants as possible. The first target market is existing biogas suppliers. Today, these are operated with gas engines with very low efficiency (max. 40 percent), are not flexible, offer limited storage options, and emit millions of tons of CO2 annually. In contrast, Reverion’s modular power plants can double the efficiency of electricity generation from 40 to 80 percent compared to conventional technology.
Since the small power plants can also run "backward" (reversible), a renewable natural gas substitute or green hydrogen can be produced and stored from a temporary surplus in the wind and solar power to make the grid more flexible. Another advantage is that Reverion’s modern power plants can be operated CO2-negatively when biogas is used.
The patented carbon-negative fuel cell technology has already attracted numerous customers. "We have secured over EUR 60 million in pre-orders, which we plan to fulfill,” explains Felix Fischer, Co-Founder, and COO. “Our objective is to break even by entering series production and rapidly scaling the number of units delivered," he says.
EU Commission’s goals speed up Reverion’s market entry
Swift action is necessary for Germany to meet the EU Commission's goals for the energy transition (Net-Zero Act) in the foreseeable future. Reverion, the spin-off from the Technical University of Munich, can significantly contribute to reaching these targets: "Our technology addresses four out of the eight currently declared goals: improving storage, expanding electrolysis processes and fuel cells, increasing the use of biogas and biomethane, and carbon storage. Therefore, we are confident that a rapid and comprehensive market entry will give Germany and the EU a competitive edge in ultra-flexible and carbon-negative energy supply," explains Stephan Herrmann, Co-Founder, and CEO.
Established industries need to cooperate
Access to capital is the bottom line when entering mass production, and close cooperation with the established industry is crucial for success. This is precisely where UVC Partners can support as an experienced hardware investor. "We looked at various start-ups in this area. The founding team of Reverion convinced us because they have developed an outstanding technology over the last years and successfully tested it in a pilot plant. With our large network together with UnternehmerTUM, we can bring partners, suppliers, and expertise to the table to further scale the technology," explains Johannes von Borries, Managing Director at UVC Partners.
All investors recognize the potential benefits to society and the economy of scaling Reverion's technology. Janna Ensthaler, General Partner at the Green Generation Fund, says: “Reverion's innovative technology promises to contribute to the energy transition significantly, enhancing the efficiency of biogas plants and displacing fossil fuels from the grid. From day one, the exceptional technical founding team captivated us, with their sales traction demonstrating commercial acumen alongside Research and Development expertise. The Green Generation Fund is excited to support the team in realizing their ambitious decarbonization vision every step of the way."
Torben Schreiter, Partner at Extantia Capital summarizes all the advantages of Reverion: "When deployed at scale, Reverion can truly revolutionize the way we generate baseload power around the world. With its proprietary technology, the company has solved all of the historical technical shortcomings associated with biogas power, resulting in a 5x increase in revenue for customers from the same amount of biomass. While Reverion is currently selling into the world's leading biogas market first (Germany), we are observing substantial interest from international prospects as well. Reverion has what it takes to scale this solution, become a global leader in renewable energy, and shape gigawatts of future clean energy."
Press images are available here: https://reverion.workplace.datto.com/7/filelink/8f995-7cc058e-2c7b8e2e55-2
Press contacts
Reverion: Felix Fischer - press@reverion.com
UVC Partners: Maria Poursaiadi - maria.poursaiadi@uvcpartners.com
About Reverion
Reverion GmbH is a spin-off of the Technical University of Munich. The start-up develops the technology, which was successfully validated in a research project, to commercial maturity and markets it as a plant manufacturer. The container-based plants can replace conventional gas engines with their low efficiencies and can be operated with hydrogen in addition to biogas. In addition, plants produce pure CO2 as a byproduct of power generation, so they can operate CO2-negatively. In particular, however, they are reversible, so that in the same plants excess renewable electricity from wind and photovoltaics can also be temporarily converted into hydrogen or methane as a substitute for natural gas. The technology therefore combines all the key core elements - increased efficiency, CO2-negative operation and seasonal energy storage on a large scale - that are still needed for successful implementation of the energy transition, in a single plant. For more information about the company, please visit: www.reverion.com.
About UVC Partners
UVC Partners is a leading early-stage venture capital firm based in Munich and Berlin, investing in European B2B tech start-ups from pre-seed to Series A stage. With approximately €400 million in assets under management, UVC Partners typically invests between €500,000 and €10 million as an initial ticket and up to €30 million per company. The portfolio includes leading companies in deep tech, climate tech, hardware and software, and mobility. As an independent partner of UnternehmerTUM, Europe's largest innovation and startup center, UVC Partners has access to proprietary deal flow, an industrial network of more than 1,000 companies, and access to talent from Europe's leading technical university. Their investments include Flix, Vimcar, planqc, Tanso, Isar Aerospace, TWAICE, DeepDrive, STABL, and many more. They all benefit from the team's extensive investment and exit experience, ability to build sustainable industry leaders, and passion for developing tomorrow's "game changers." Learn more at www.uvcpartners.com.
About Extantia Capital
Extantia Capital is a climate-first venture capital firm accelerating the path to a decarbonised world. Extantia unites mission-driven entrepreneurs, scientists, investors, and business leaders to advance the transition. The €300M platform includes Extantia Flagship, a fund backing scalable deep decarbonisation companies, Extantia Allstars, a fund-of-funds investing in climate venture capital funds, and Extantia Ignite, a sustainability hub advancing knowledge and competence in climate innovation and ESG practices. For more information, visit www.extantia.com.
About Doral Capital Cooperation
Doral Energy-Tech Ventures is the corporate innovation and investment arm of the Doral Group, a global renewable energy and environmental infrastructure developer. With a global portfolio of portfolio companies, Doral-Tech partners with inspiring entrepreneurs to build breakthrough companies taking on major global sustainability challenges. Doral-Tech invests in promising energy innovators, providing the expertise, capital and strategic support to bring to market groundbreaking technologies in a range of renewable energy and clean-tech related fields. For more information, visit www.doral-tech.co
About Landwärme GmbH
Landwärme GmbH is an independent and owner-managed company in the renewable energy sector. Since 2007, Landwärme has been active as a biomethane trading and service company throughout Europe, supplying hundreds of energy suppliers and municipal utilities with biomethane for the electricity, heating and transport sectors. Landwärme also advises customers along the entire value chain: on biomethane production, transport, remuneration claims or greenhouse gas quotas. With a trading portfolio of more than 3 TWh, Landwärme has grown to become one of Europe's leading biomethane trading companies. The company procures the green gas from its own plants as well as from a total of more than 100 different biomethane suppliers. For more information about the company, please visit: www.landwaerme.de.
About Green Generation Fund
With €100 million in fund size, Green Generation Fund is a new European early-stage investor (pre-seed to Series A), one of Europe's largest funds in the environmental impact space, and the only one with an all-female leadership team. Partners Dr. Manon Sarah Littek and Janna Ensthaler want their investments to enable growth in the two most important ecosystems of this decade - food tech and green tech - and thus contribute significantly to solving the climate crisis. For more information visit: www.greengenerationfund.com.
