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PGE Ventures’ team has reviewed several dozen of startups which applied within the PGE Ventures’ scouting program. Most of them fit into the PGE Ventures’ area of interests and meet fund’s investment criteria. Young enterprises are currently being verified in the investment evaluation process. Two companies had already received positive feedback and the investment agreements were signed. The first PGE Ventures’ portfolio companies are: PiMerge S.A. and Scanway Sp. z o. o.

The first investments of PGE Ventures are the proof of the consistently implemented investment plan of the fund and the entire PGE Capital Group. It must be underlined that the Group’s business strategy is focused on innovations and the diversification of revenue streams. Investments in those two companies are in line with the Government’s Strategy for Responsible Development. Moreover, the investments confirm the Group’s innovative approach to the implementation of new business models. In addition, PGE Ventures will acquire shares of companies whose disruptive technologies may have a substantial impact for the entire energy sector in Poland. – says Henryk Baranowski, President of the Management Board, PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A.

PiMerge's innovative technology can help to effectively reduce the problem of low emission, which is one of the main causes of smog in large urban agglomerations. PiMerge’s product dedicated to this purpose (under the temporary name of: composite coal fuel), is also a response to the huge challenges related to the management of fragmented hard coal such as coal sludge and flotation concentrates. This technology allows to effectively produce coal briquettes with a quality of eco-pea coal suited for burning in top-class central heating boilers.

Scanway, on the other hand offers  technology of highly advanced monitoring system, which allows to monitor the environment, including industrial facilities. In the energy sector, it can improve both, the operational capacity of power plants and CHPs, as well as monitor medium and low voltage grid. While reducing the infrastructure’s failure rate, the security of electricity supplies will increase.

The market potential for products offered by PiMerge and Scanway was one of the main factors determining our investments. Both companies are represented by teams of professionals with high competences and relevant experience to explore Polish and foreign markets. The investment process which we went through with both companies, we assess very positive. We are glad that the negotiations finally led to the signing of investment agreements. - says Piotr Czak, President of the Management Board, PGE Ventures Sp. z o. o.

The solutions we offer have not yet been commercialized on a large scale in Poland and we want to change that. The technology is fully scalable and undoubtedly has the global solution feature. We already receive signals of interest in this technology from large corporations worldwide, including Australia. – says Sławomir Szafert, President of the Management Board, PiMerge S.A.

As the founders of the Scanway, we were positively surprised by the efficiency and support of PGE Ventures during the investment process. The established cooperation will give us the possibility to implement cutting-edge measurement technologies which will certainly influence the innovation and development of Polish energy sector. – says Jędrzej Kowalewski, President of the Management Board, Scanway Sp. z o. o.

PiMerge is a company established to create and commercialize technology for merging various types of fine-grained production waste. Currently, the main area of the company’s activity is the production of composite coal with the use of sludge and flotation concentrates remaining in the process of hard coal production.

Scanway is a company which creates measurement and vision systems as well as laser micro-processing systems for industry, science and space applications. Moreover, Scanway is working on Earth imaging technology that can be used in nanosatellites and flying drones. The company has already implemented the measuring chamber for an experiment working in space conditions in a suborbital rocket.

In February 2018, the PGE Group has planned an event summarising the effects of the PGE Ventures’ scouting program and presenting the fund’s plans for the coming year.