Why Climentum Capital invested in Scale Energy

Earlier this year, Climentum Capital led the equity financing round for climate tech startup Scale Energy, a developer of industrial battery storage systems, and closed an oversubscribed seed financing round of €2 million. 

Europe’s industrial backbone is feeling the heat. Soaring electricity prices, grid volatility, and mounting decarbonization pressures are putting unprecedented strain on Europe’s industrial sector. As energy markets tighten and renewables expand, the limitations of the current system become increasingly apparent.

In Germany, electricity costs are currently 2-3x higher than in the US, with commercial and industrial (C&I) users carrying a disproportionate share of the burden. The sector accounts for around 70% of the country’s total electricity consumption and often pays additional charges tied to peak demand, grid usage, and volatility premiums. At the same time, the industrial sector holds a largely underutilized asset that could play a pivotal role in stabilizing the energy system: its grid connections.

Germany is home to around 400,000 C&I companies. Of these, an estimated 40,000-60,000 are energy-intensive operations with grid connections of 1 MW or more. These include aluminum smelters, paper mills, and automotive suppliers: companies with stable energy demand and strong incentives to reduce costs and decarbonize.

Battery systems at these sites can help stabilize the power grid through demand-side flexibility, reduce electricity costs via peak shaving and load shifting, lower CO₂ emissions in hard-to-abate sectors, and accelerate the integration of renewables at the grid edge.

Scale Energy approaches the challenge of industrial decarbonization by focusing on the specific constraints and opportunities within the sector. Instead of relying on centralized storage parks, which can be costly and slow to develop, the company deploys battery systems directly at industrial sites. This approach utilizes existing, underused grid connections, offering a more rapid and capital-efficient pathway to deployment.

By embedding storage at the site level, development timelines are reduced by up to four years, and capital expenditures can be lowered by approximately 30%, according to internal analyses.

Climentum Capital believe that the future of grid storage lies in distributed, demand-side flexibility. Scale Energy’s model strengthens the grid rather than burdening it. It creates cost savings for customers rather than new expenses. And it accelerates decarbonization, rather than delaying it.

Climentum Capital General Partner, Dörte Hirschberg, says: “Scale Energy is not only addressing an immense problem in the energy transition, but the team is also solving financial scaling challenges. Few companies manage early on to bundle venture and infrastructure CapEx financing into a convincing structure that enables attractive offerings for industrial customers.”

Source