EDP Ventures Brasil, the corporate venture capital of  EDP Group, has made its first investment in a startup in the Brazilian electricity market. The Ceará-based Delfos will use the R$ 1.5 million in funding to complete development of its Artificial Intelligence which is used for predictive maintenance in power plants. In addition to EDP Ventures Brasil, that was the lead investor making the biggest funding contribution, BMG Uptech and Bossa Nova Investimentos also participated as co-investors.

“We chose Delfos as the first investment for EDP Ventures Brasil because we believe that this Brazilian solution has great potential for the domestic and global renewable energy markets. We are investing to leverage development of technologies that have been created in Brazil and show the level of quality needed to become globally successful”, said Cassio Vidigal, Head of EDP Ventures Brasil.

According to Rosario Cannata, Investment Manager at EDP Ventures, “Artificial intelligence for predictive maintenance is a very innovative technology with which Delfos can help wind, hydroelectric and solar power plants become more efficient, increasing plant productivity and reducing costs through failure prediction and improved operational insights”. Delfos began its relationship with EDP in 2016, when it won the EDP Open Innovation startup challenge and received a 50 thousand Euro prize to develop a failure prediction system for wind turbines. At the time, business manager Guilherme Studart and engineer Samuel Lima created a model for cross-checking data that can be used to predict component wear and recommending preventive maintenance.

During this period, the startup went through allof the EDP mentorship processes and attracted major customers from across the country, closing 2018 with projects and contracts for assets representing 3.1 GW (gigawatts), a seven-fold increase compared to 2017 (0.4 GW).

 “EDP’s support helped define Delfos’ approach to the market. Our solution aims to enable an efficient Operational Governance by reducing operational uncertainties and increasing productivity of renewable energy assets. We are looking to broaden our business applying Artificial Intelligence in all segments of the energy industry”, said Guilherme Studart, Delfos CEO.   

With the investment from EDP Ventures Brasil, BMG Uptech and Bossa Nova, Delfos now plans to consolidate its platform, increase scalability and improve data reliability, creating a system capable of running in real time and generating a virtual clone to detect possible failure. In addition to this financial backing, BMG Uptech and Bossa Nova also have a portfolio of over 400 investee startups and they can help Delfos expand its domestic and international footprint and attract venture capital during future funding rounds. The investors will be entitled to acquire a minority stake in the company and will work together to support the Company’s growth.

EDP Ventures Brasil’s selection

At the beginning of 2018, Delfos and EDP Renewables developed a pilot project for a wind farm complex in Belgium. Their failure prediction model was tested in 11 wind turbines, which increased the model’s analysis capabilities and improved its data processing capabilities, resulting in more assertive models and improved analytical panels. The constantly evolving platform attracted interest from EDP Ventures Brasil, which at the time had only been in the market for eight months (but had already prospected over 200 startups and was in talks with over 70 investment funds, accelerators and technology centers).

In addition to providing direct investment, EDP’s Venture Capital company also offers financial support for pilot projects and access to EDP Group and partner business areas and assets in 14 countries and monitors a network of both Brazilian and international business incubators, accelerators and investors.

EDP Ventures Brasil is looking for startups that can offer solutions to the energy market and that add value to the group in the following investment verticals: renewable energy, smart grids, energy storage, digital Innovation (blockchain, IoT, big data, virtual reality), Client Focused solutions (fintechs, smart solutions for homes) and support areas (legal tech, HR platforms).

EDP Ventures Brasil assesses both early-stage (seed investment) and more mature startups in the ramp-up and market traction phases (A series), with the option for co-investment alongside other corporations or partner funds. Visit www.edpventures.vc to find out more or register new projects.

At the EDP Group has a global Corporate Venture strategy. Through a similar vehicle used in Portugal since 2008, EDP has invested over 30 million Euros in 22 different startups.

EDP Brazil open innovation platform

EDP has been supporting entrepreneurship in Brazil’s energy market since 2015, organizing initiatives that help develop solutions, from the initial phase through to prototyping, acceleration, pilot projects and investment. The EDP Starter Brazil and Free Electrons acceleration projects are the main gateway for building a relationship with the Company.

About EDP Brazil

EDP has over 20 years’ experience and is one of the biggest private-sector companies operating across the entire value chain. The Company has over 10,000 direct and indirect staff and is involved in energy Generation, Distribution, Transmission, Sales and Services. The company owns six hydro power plants and one thermal power station that serve around 3.4 million people in the states of São Paulo and Espírito Santo. The Company recently acquired a majority stake in CELESC, from Santa Catarina. In Brazil, the company is noted for its Innovation, Governance and Sustainability and has been included in the B3 Business Sustainability Index (BSI) for 13 cecutive years.