Launched last May by Iberdrola, Spain’s first major technology fund to accelerate energy transition and sustainability, the ICO Next Tech Fund, Nortia Capital and Seiya, have already started. It has entered the capital of construction company 011h, which focuses on the transition to a sustainable world for the design and construction of carbon neutral buildings. Thus it becomes the first investment of this investment vehicle.
Established in late 2020, 011h Construction ensures that it puts sustainability, quality and people at the center of its business, which aims to mitigate climate change and provide access to affordable, healthy and sustainable housing.
Incorporating sustainable principles and materials and preserving design flexibility, the builder has standardized and digitized the construction process to make it easily repeatable and scalable. It enables architects, contractors, developers and investors to design, build and manage quality buildings faster, more reliably and cost-effectively.
In addition to Andromeda, the financing round, with which 011h has raised €25 million, also includes investors including Swiss venture capital firm Redalpine, France’s Breega and Spain’s Aldea Ventures.
The company is committed to optimizing the manufacturing process along the entire value chain: the use of materials, labor and the design, fabrication and assembly processes. It aims to standardize the methods and make them easily repeatable and scalable. Furthermore, it will depend only on partners with high standards in ESG (environmental, social and governance) norms that consider activities in property and labor (materials and external manufacturers) but deeply integrated in design and operation.
A few months ago, the company built a residential building in l’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), with which it achieved several milestones. CO2 emissions in construction are reduced by more than 90% and time frames reduced by 35% compared to conventional methods. Now, 011h is in the process of building a block of flats in San Juan de Alicante (Alicante).
Venture capital funds for concrete sustainability objectives in line with Article 9 of the EU regulation, with clear and measurable Environment, Sustainability and Governance (ESG) criteria.
The fund, which has a target size of €300 million, is born through the Next Tech Fund with public participation of up to €100 million.
The project is part of the government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which fosters public-private collaboration in innovative digital projects in high-impact technologies and the development of scale-ups that generate quality jobs.
With its partnership in Andromeda, Iberdrola takes another step towards entrepreneurship and technological leadership through its Persona start-up program, which aims to facilitate the group’s access to the technologies of the future and support technological and global ecosystem collaboration. and promote development. Innovative companies in the field of electricity.
The program has focused its activities on the analysis of business opportunities and technical collaborations with start-up and emerging companies around the world, analyzing 300 companies each year and a pool of approximately 7,500 entrepreneurial companies from more than 35 countries. ecosystem has been created.
Since its creation, the program has invested €100 million in supporting open innovation and building rapport with start-ups developing innovative technologies and business models.