1Q 2016 Summary Cleantech Invest Plc

This is the first of our Quarterly summaries. Please note that this is not a fully comprehensive report of all events, nor is it in any way a financial performance report. It is however our attempt at a summary of the main events that are public and that affect us and our portfolio during the quarter.  

In the quarterly report we will not comment on every portfolio company every time but focus on portfolio companies where we feel the company has achieved milestones or had development that are worth reporting. To get a comprehensive view of individual portfolio companies’ businesses one should review additional documents such as the prospectus published earlier this year.

General outlook

During Q1 investments as well as investment needs into clean technologies have been high on the agenda of public debate and Cleantech Invest portfolio companies have enjoyed a positive operating environment internationally. Cleantech investments are increasingly done in a market driven way based on their cost competiveness and/or strategic value. Current market conditions create a very good platform for Cleantech Invest’s portfolio companies to pursue their growth strategies and we have been pleased with the progress in many companies. In many cases such as with Nocart’s distributed energy systems, customer financing is seen as part of the delivery by the customers. Securing sufficient project funding for customers is a key enabler of growth. This continues to be an area for improvement throughout Cleantech Invest’s portfolio. Funding clean energy production and energy saving assets is, however, a vast and recognized opportunity for big institutional investors, and Cleantech Invest has taken as a key objective to improve the bankability of our portfolio companies’ customer projects.

Cleantech Invest share listed also in Sweden

We closed an oversubscribed funding round that brought in 12 MSEK to list Cleantech Invest on First North Sweden. The reason was to broaden our ownership base and increase awareness of us in Sweden. The issue was subscribed more then 3 1/2 times and we now have more than 1200 new Swedish investors. An additional 8.4 MSEK will potentially be added to this round if the attached option rights are utilized. The options have a strike price at 13 SEK/share. The shares are now listed on First North Sweden under ticker “CLEANT A”.

New high-level candidates brought in as company shifts to an independent board

Cleantech Invest has proposed three new board member candidates for the new board of directors to be selected at the AGM on the 20th of April.  With the election of these three individuals Cleantech Invest will shift to a board with a majority of independent members.

Matti Vuoria: Chairman of the Board of building and construction company YIT Oyj, previously President and CEO of Varma and member of the Board in several major companies such as Stora Enso Oyj, Wartsilä Oyj, Sampo Oyj, Orion Oyj and Danisco (Denmark) as well as Nordic Investment Bank. Previous chairman of Fortum Oy.

James Penney: Chairman of London based Darwin Property Investment Management Limited. European Pension Awards “Alternative Investment Manager of the Year”, LAPF Investment Awards “Alternatives Manager of the Year”.

Peter Carlsson: Angel investor, advisor and entrepreneur. Previous Vice President, Supply Chain TESLA. Senior Vice President NXP Semiconductors, Chief Procurement Officer Sony-Ericsson.

Lassi Noponen and Thomas Bengtsson are suggested to continue as board members.

Significant events in Portfolio companies

Sofi Filtration and Aurelia Turbines both successfully closed investment rounds. Cleantech Invest fully diluted ownership in Sofi Filtration is 21.9% after the round (previously 23.1%), and 3.4% in Aurelia Turbines (previously 3.8%).

Aurelia Turbines is transforming distributed energy generation by launching highly efficient gas turbines. After successful development and extensive communication with the target market, the company has signed the first three deliveries and is now progressing towards final testing of the product and customer deployment,

Sofi Filtration has developed a self-cleaning filter that is able to treat large streams of water containing fine particle contamination, which are difficult to treat with traditional methods. Sofi Filtration is expanding internationally and has since the closing of the funding round initiated entry to the US market.

Nocart has closed deals of 12.8 MEUR during Q1. This corresponds to more than three times their total revenues in 2015.

Swap.com has continued its impressive growth. Monthly revenues have during Q1 2016 exceeded 1MUSD. Swap.com has the largest selection of kids' and women’s items in online consignment segment in the USA and helps an increasing number of American families to save money while protecting the environment. While Swap.com has the potential to become the category leader in the rapidly growing online consignment market, the company requires significant additional funding during 2016 to execute its growth strategy.

Savo-Solar has won two new contracts in Denmark, one to deliver a a solar collector field in Søllested, Denmark, valued at 0.7MEUR and one to Jyderup district heating plant, valued at 1.5MEUR.

Enersize will implement a major energy savings project for Chinese car & truck manufacturer Beiqi Foton Motor Co. (Foton), at their Beijing factory. The company targets 20-25% energy savings for the factory’s compressed air systems, with an estimated savings potential of 1 Million Euro during the four year contract period. Foton produces more than 70,000 vehicles each year and operates more than 10 similar factories in China. The agreement marks a significant opening into the Chinese automobile industry for Enersize and comes at a time when the company is negotiating several larger projects with a number of automobile manufacturers in China.

Watty is doing their first disaggregation project with UK homes together with an undisclosed local partner. The company sees this as a good way to adapt their energy saving algorithms to the conditions in the UK, among other things – they have the highest kettle use of any other European country!

Contact information

Alexander Lidgren, Managing Director of Cleantech Invest Plc. Tel. 46 73 660 1007, alexander.lidgren@cleantechinvest.com

Access Partners Oy, Certified Advisor. Tel. 358 9 682 9500

Cleantech Invest in brief

Cleantech Invest is a Nordic accelerator with investments in growth companies that solve global challenges. The portfolio companies are active in energy- and resource efficiency as well as decentralized renewable energy and are based in Finland, Sweden and Germany. The company management consists of company builders and investors who have been active within the cleantech space for over a decade.The company is listed on First North Finland under the ticker: CLEAN. www.cleantechinvest.com