Repsol Corporate Venturing

Gema García González
Open Innovation Director and Corporate Venturing

Marta Gómez Mariano
Investment Manager

Amaia de Manueles Sainz
Investment Manager

Marta Gómez Mariano
Investment Manager

Roberto Ruiz Martino
Investment Associate

Carmen Moreno Morales
Investment Associate

Marta Pérez Regadera
Investment Associate

Gabriel Alonso Arrien
Investment Associate

Ander Zubizarreta
Investment Associate

Santiago Yeves Gil
Investment Associate

Repsol, through its Corporate Venturing activities, takes stakes in different start-ups so as to contribute not only economic resources but also the experience and knowledge of its professionals. In addition to its network of contacts, it also provides these companies with the infrastructure needed to test their new technologies in real-life industrial and business environments.

“At Repsol, we have an open innovation model with a number of tools for collaborating with start-ups, universities, other companies, and research centers around the world, one of these tools being our Corporate Venturing,” explained Gema García, director of this area in Repsol. “The challenge of the energy transition is so important for our society that we can only tackle it using technology. And, as a company, we need to contribute our technological developments and to support all the innovative talent that we can find in the entrepreneurial ecosystem."

To reinforce this innovative model, "we have two complementary funds with one common objective: to invest in new technological projects that will contribute to decarbonizing the economy and drive its growth," continued García. The difference between the two is the degree of maturity of the companies in which they invest. The Net Zero Ventures fund, that Repsol created with the venture-capital manager Suma Capital, will invest in technologies that are closer to being marketed. Repsol will contribute 50 million euros to this fund, which will have up to 150 million in equity by involving other investors.

The Repsol Deep Tech Fund will continue the work started in 2016 by the Repsol Corporate Venturing team on the company’s corporate venture capital fund that, in its six years in existence, has had a stake in some 25 business projects. Intended to invest "in less mature technologies but with a high potential for the energy transition, which we will help to accelerate", Repsol Deep Tech will be owned 100% by the multi-energy company and will be endowed with 50 million euros.

Disruptive technologies and business models

The aim of this Corporate Venturing model is to "complement the internal talent that we have in our R&D&I teams" by identifying and investing in start-ups worldwide that are developing disruptive technologies or business models in various fields, such as low-carbon processes, the circular economy, renewable energies, advanced mobility, and the optimization of industrial assets.

Repsol Corporate Venturing now has an international portfolio, with a strong presence in Spain but also in the United States, Norway, Finland, and Israel". Among the startups are companies specializing in nanotechnology, LPG engines for heavy vehicles, artificial intelligence applied to geological models, the production of bioethanol from urban waste, and IoT for household energy management.

With an average initial investment of 1.5 million euros, the energy company acquires a minority stake in the equity of these companies. Gema García highlights the differential value provided by Repsol Corporate Venturing: “The support is not only financial, we also help to test their technologies, both in the Repsol Technology Lab pilot plants and at our industrial assets, and we have the technological support of more than 200 scientists from different disciplines who can help with their co-development."

Opportunities at large innovation hubs

Around the world, there are thousands of start-ups trying to find their niche in a sector as competitive as technology. How do we separate “the wheat from the chaff” and identify those that have the best technologies?

At Repsol Corporate Venturing, a team of ten people is responsible for analyzing an average of 1,000 start-ups each year, contacting them at innovation events, through accelerators, and even via the corporate website. The proposals that are of interest pass through successive filters in which experts from the businesses and the Technology Lab, the company’s innovation and technology center, intervene until a final decision is made on investment. This exhaustive screening process leads to a stake being acquired in between three and five companies annually.

Now, the Repsol ‘spotters’ are widening their search to “high-impact innovation hubs in different areas, such as Tel Aviv (Israel), which is very focused on digital technologies and mobility", or around Boston (USA), "where they are working hard on low-carbon technologies, renewable hydrogen, and new materials. There, we have already collaborated with Greentown Labs and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and our aim is to find new opportunities and partners," says Gema García.

Expertise + 10 years
We have been supporting startups that offer disruptive solutions or technological solutions that contribute to transforming the energy sector for more than a decade.

+200 scientists at Repsol Technology Lab
Scientists from our R&D centre work in collaboration with startups to validate their technological developments.

Validation in a real environment
Startups can count on our knowledge and the possibility of validating their technologies in an industrial environment at Repsol Tech Lab, through pilots or proofs of concept.

Tools for innovation
We provide startups with multiple tools to speed up technological development, such as IdeAction or Repsol's proof of concept platform.

Innovative startups in the energy sector

We are allocating our strategic investment fund, Repsol Corporate Venture, worth €85 million to three technological fields: decarbonization and circular economy; advanced mobility and renewables; and digital technology and resource optimization.

Get to know the different startups we collaborate with on this link