Austrian Waste-to-X biotech startup Vertus Energy secures €8.75M in a seed funding

Vertus Energy, a Vienna-based startup specializing in advanced control of bacteria behaviour, has secured €8.75 million in a seed funding round led by Energy Capital Ventures. It will be used to scale the company’s flagship product, BRIO, into pilot projects, EU-Startups informs.

About Vertus Energy

• Founded in 2019, Vertus Energy develops BRIO, a biogas technology that generates biomethane up to 3 times faster than currently possible and boosts energy production by up to 60% from the same amount of waste. The startup claims its flexibility provides the potential to service the entire industry, at every scale. It easily retrofits into existing anaerobic digestion plants, controlling existing bacteria rather than by introducing new bacteria, enabling the potential to utilize any waste stream.

Vertus Energy is determined to radically improve access to sustainable energy and help Europe meet its renewable energy objectives. We’ve already established relationships with global players, who have recognised how the technology can help them to meet their renewable energy goals and are genuinely excited by what we can deliver,

Benjamin Howard, co-founder and COO, said.

Investment details

• Energy Capital Ventures, the US-based early-stage VC fund specializing in the ESG imperatives and digital transformation of the natural gas industry, is the lead investor in the current round.
• Blackbird, a venture capital fund based in Australia and New Zealand, the Amadeus APEX Technology, a fund located in London and will invest in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and Aussie Angels, a group of investors from Sydney, alongside all the existing investors, also participated in the financing.

As the only venture capital fund solely dedicated to green molecules™, we have devoted the last several years to analyzing technologies and start-ups in biogas, biomethanation and renewable natural gas.  It was abundantly clear from our exhaustive due diligence that Vertus Energy’s technology, commercial progress and team were far superior to anything in the market.  We backed Vertus Energy because they have a fantastic team, clearly demonstrative technology and verifiable results that vastly surpass competitive options,

Vic Pascucci, Managing General Partner and co-founder of Energy Capital Ventures, commented.

The new funding will accelerate the adoption of the BRIO technology in commercial units across various applications, from full-scale wastewater treatment plants to large-scale biogas plants.