Belgian scale-up Gorilla collects 6 million euros to accelerate energy transition
Antwerp, 2 December, 2022 - Gorilla, the Belgian scale-up that enables energy companies to gather and process vast amounts of critical data, has collected 6 million euros during a Series A capital round. The investors are the transatlantic venture capital fund Beringea and the Belgian government-sponsored PMV. In addition, the company receives support from VLAIO. Gorilla’s powerful software clears the path for energy companies to accelerate their net-zero transformation while developing innovative, sustainable solutions for their consumers. With offices in Antwerp, London and Melbourne, the scale-up is poised to dramatically expand both its team and product offering.
All eyes are currently on the crisis in the energy sector, with towering prices and problematic supply grabbing the headlines. In the background, however, the energy transition remains in full swing. In its special report on Energy Transition Investment Trends 2022, Bloomberg predicts that energy companies will triple their investments in the transition to 100% green, renewable energy by 2025 and double them again by 2030.
In the meantime, the energy transition has sparked an explosion of data amongst energy companies. Solar panels, wind parks, smart meters and other new technologies all generate large amounts of new data, posing a real challenge for energy companies to process it. That is precisely where Gorilla comes in. Gorilla’s cloud-based data processing platform is capable of processing enormous amounts of data without the need for any special IT knowledge on the part of the user, enabling energy companies to make giant leaps forward in terms of efficiency and performance.
Gorilla, a spin-off from Belgian tech agency November Five, only appeared on the scene in 2018. But already, major energy companies such as British Gas, ScottishPower, Shell Energy and Engie are using the scale-up’s platform to generate powerful insights into both the production and consumption of energy. Gorilla currently operates with a workforce of 40 employees at its offices in Antwerp, London and Melbourne. The company has also been nominated for the Collaborative Excellence Award, which will be announced at the prestigious Utility Week Awards in London on 6 December 2022.
Making energy companies climate neutral, faster
Ruben Van den Bossche, co-founder and CEO of Gorilla: “The energy transition is also transforming the way the energy market works. Our data-driven applications make it easy for energy companies to develop new price plans and offer new products. Which, in turn, encourages more flexible and sustainable energy consumption and helps consumers manage their energy bill. Think of innovative solutions for electric cars and IoT devices. But also solutions that make more efficient use of existing infrastructure, thereby reducing the need for additional expenditure.”
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“The impact of climate change is growing faster than ever. We stand at a turning point in our history. Gorilla is here to help the energy sector become carbon-neutral faster and more cost-effectively.”
6 million euro capital injection
Gorilla expects to see an exponential growth in the demand for data services in the energy sector over the coming years. In order to capitalise on this trend, the Belgian scale-up has collected 6 million euros during a Series A capital round. Gorilla will use the capital injection to further expand its sales and engineering teams as well as its product offering.
Eyal Malinger, Partner at the investment fund Beringea, commented: “The Gorilla team has built a collaborative, cloud-based, high-performance modelling platform, which provides 100 times greater performance than legacy spreadsheet-based solutions. Energy companies are facing an exponential growth in data processing requirements, and – as decarbonisation continues to accelerate – it has never been more critical to provide our energy sector with digital tools that can manage the greater complexity and volatility that comes with this transition. Gorilla does exactly this, and we are excited for the next chapter of its growth.”
