GE’s venture capital arm picks up Sonnen for growth potential

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Sonnen's Eco 4 home energy storage unit. Image: Sonnen.
GE Ventures, the venture capital arm of US-headquartered multinational engineering group GE, has invested in German energy storage hardware and services provider Sonnen.

Mathias Bloch, a spokesman for Sonnen, confirmed to Energy-Storage.News on Monday that the “double-digit million-Euro sum” was being invested by GE Ventures and Sonnen’s existing investors.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Sonnen, which has launched the SonnenCommunity energy trading platform in its homeland in addition to selling over 10,000 residential units, is also active in the US, having initially targeted the commercial peak shaving market there before adding residential offerings earlier this year. The company is also expanding into other territories including the recent hire of a small team in the UK based at an innovation park in the west of England and the recruitment of distribution partners. In its recent Q1 results, Sonnen said it had sold 2,600 storage units in three months.

Other companies listed as part of GE Ventures’ energy portfolio on its website include SolarEdge, energy metering and analytics firm Tendril – in which SunPower is also an investor – and US residential solar leasing company Sungevity.

GE Ventures is also an investor in US commercial energy storage provider Stem, which has just closed a US$15 million Series-C funding round with capital from other major investors including European power utility RWE and Mithral Capital Management, another venture capital specialist.

Stem's marketing director Gabe Schwartz told Energy-Storage.News that the recent interest of majors such as RWE, Total, E.On and Engie in various energy storage companies was indicative of big players in the global energy market "seeing the energy storage space as somehow strategic to their larger business".

More to follow…

Read Next

May 1, 2025
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) will divest a 50% ownership stake in its 500MW Coalburn 1 BESS to alternative investor AXA IM Alts.
Sponsored
May 1, 2025
Alper Peker and Dominic Multerer of Camopo explain how flexibility is the key to long-term profitability for hybrid renewables-plus-storage power plants.
May 1, 2025
Yarra Energy Foundation has secured funding to install three new community batteries in and around Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
May 1, 2025
AEMO has revealed that, as of March 2025, the pipeline of new standalone BESS in the NEM has increased by 86% year-on-year (YoY).
April 30, 2025
NYSERDA has launched a programme to incentivise residential and retail energy storage in the state, offering a total of US$775 million for energy storage projects.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter