Modo Energy, a UK-based startup revolutionizing the valuation of energy assets, recently announced raising £25 million in a Series B funding round led by Molten Ventures. This milestone positions the company to grow its market presence and enhance its AI-driven tools, empowering energy professionals at every level to make better-informed decisions. As a serial entrepreneur who has built my ventures without external capital, stories like this strike a chord, reminding me why bootstrapped business models can often prove just as resilient and scalable in different industries.
Let’s dig deeper into how Modo Energy is breaking barriers in the clean energy sector, what it means for the broader ecosystem, and the lessons entrepreneurs, especially women like me, can take away from this success story.
The Funding Story and Its Impact
Modo Energy’s AI-driven valuation platform is set to expand from five markets to 20, supported by fresh investments from Molten Ventures, ETF Partners, and MMC Ventures. The funds will fuel team growth, eventually adding engineers and data scientists, and deepen its offerings in batteries, renewables, data centers, and other electrification technologies. What caught my attention is their emphasis on shifting from static reports to transparent, dynamic models, something that resonates with any entrepreneur trying to challenge entrenched systems while improving outcomes for customers.
The clean energy market, worth trillions globally, is ripe for disruption. According to recent reports, global investments in renewables and energy storage are expected to double in the next decade. For companies willing to innovate in fields reliant on transparency and accuracy, such as energy asset valuation, the timing couldn’t be better.
Lessons for Entrepreneurs in Europe
Female founders in Europe face unique challenges in securing funding, breaking into male-dominated industries, and navigating networks that often feel closed. Here are the lessons Modo Energy’s journey offers:
-
Find Your Niche and Own It
Modo Energy didn’t try to compete directly with all analytics platforms; instead, they honed their focus on clean energy valuation, where transparency is critical. If you know your niche inside-out and relentlessly build expertise, you can differentiate yourself without becoming overwhelmed by competition. -
Listen to Market Demands
Their commitment to making industry-standard benchmarks bankable is a clear nod to solving real pain points. Entrepreneurs should spend as much time listening as developing products. Can your offering solve problems that customers didn’t even think could be addressed? -
Invest in Vision, Then Scale
The transition from static reports to dynamic valuation tools didn’t happen overnight. Modo constantly iterated prototypes before scaling globally, a reminder to founders of why patience leads to impactful scaling.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
While Modo Energy appears to be steering clear of pitfalls, their trajectory sheds light on risks that can ruin startups in phases of growth:
-
Ignoring Talent Diversity
Modo’s focus on hiring across engineering and data science roles is spot-on. Many founders, in error, prioritize branding over building robust teams full of technical expertise. -
Expanding Too Quickly
Scaling to global markets is ambitious yet sustainable because Modo waited for repeatable success in key regions first. The temptation to grow too fast often leads founders to dilute quality, and ultimately, trust. -
Misunderstanding Customers
By focusing on explainability and transparent workflows, Modo Energy showcases the strength of directly addressing users’ fears and goals. Over-reliance on algorithms without clear human-centered guidelines risks losing customer loyalty.
How Tech-Minded Entrepreneurs Can Use These Insights
Whether you’re a bootstrapped founder, launching your first side hustle, or incorporating AI into your offering, consider these tips:
Start Small but Think Universal
If you’re in a niche, like Modo Energy, aim to build tools or services with broad applications. Just ensure you pilot them within manageable parameters.
Choose Impact Over Everything
For any female entrepreneur in tech or STEM, going the quality route is crucial. Your product’s impact, measured by customer trust, is infinitely more important than scale on day one.
Collaborate Smarter, Not Busier
Modo Energy boasts strong backing from entities that share its values, like Molten Ventures. Remember: collaborations shouldn’t dilute but amplify your mission.
Modo Energy’s Market Potential
Worldwide clean energy investments highlight growing demand for transparent valuation. For tech-forward startups like Modo Energy, there’s untapped potential in regions currently underserved by AI-powered valuation platforms. When the transition toward electrification comes full circle, we can expect tools like theirs to become industry benchmarks akin to Bloomberg or Reuters models.
Insightful Conclusion
Modo Energy’s rise shows clean energy players and entrepreneurs that products rooted in solving defined, universal problems can scale globally, even in complex industries. For women like me battling stereotypes in deeptech and energy, the example demonstrates why strong vision paired with relentless pursuit of transparent solutions ultimately defines successful ventures.
If you’re eager to explore how valuation systems are transforming industries, check out Modo Energy’s offerings on their official site, and for inspiration on AI-enhanced business models, give Molten Ventures’ investment insights a read.
FAQ
1. What is Modo Energy, and what does it do?
Modo Energy is a UK-based clean energy tech startup that develops an AI-powered operating system for benchmarking and valuing energy assets such as batteries, renewables, and data centers. Its platform provides dynamic, transparent, and real-time insights to transform how energy infrastructure is valued. Learn more about Modo Energy
2. Who are the founders of Modo Energy?
Modo Energy was founded by Quentin Scrimshire (CEO) and Tim Overton in 2019 in Birmingham, UK.
3. How much funding did Modo Energy recently raise?
Modo Energy raised £25 million in a Series B funding round to expand its market presence and improve its AI-driven tools for the clean energy sector. Discover Modo Energy's recent funding
4. Which investors participated in Modo Energy's Series B funding?
The Series B funding round was led by Molten Ventures, with participation from ETF Partners, MMC Ventures, and individual investor Fred. Learn more about Molten Ventures' role
5. How will the £25 million funding be used by Modo Energy?
The funding will support the company's expansion from 5 to 20 markets, enhance its AI-powered valuation tools, and contribute to hiring engineers, data scientists, and customer support staff. Explore Modo Energy's funding impact
6. What makes Modo Energy's platform unique?
Modo Energy's platform is distinctive due to its dynamic benchmarking, real-time data integration, and AI-driven transparency. It replaces outdated static reports with interactive, bankable valuation tools tailored for asset financers and operators. Read more about Modo Energy's technology
7. What challenges does Modo Energy aim to solve?
Modo Energy addresses the challenges caused by slow, fragmented, and outdated valuation tools in the energy sector. Their platform helps streamline transparent decision-making for large-scale infrastructure investments. Understand their challenges
8. Which regions and sectors does Modo Energy target?
The company plans to expand its services to Europe, North America, and APAC countries, focusing on batteries, renewables, wind, solar, and flexible loads.
9. What lessons can entrepreneurs learn from Modo Energy's growth?
Modo Energy’s journey highlights the importance of finding a niche, addressing real market demands, and scaling patiently while emphasizing transparency and innovation for customer trust.
10. What role does AI play in Modo Energy’s solutions?
AI is fundamental to Modo Energy’s platform, enabling real-time, transparent forecasts and explainable valuation models that assist in making bankable energy asset investments. Learn about their AI solutions
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
