‘Zero-emission’ boiler firm tepeo has raised £10.5 million in Series A funding.
The Wokingham company’s ZEB smart tech automatically heats a thermal core at the cheapest and greenest times of day, taking into account the customer’s electricity tariff, grid carbon intensity forecast and customers’ preferences for how carbon or cost conscious they want to be.
From spring 2023 the ZEB will also be able to charge on excess solar electricity generated by a home’s solar PV that would otherwise have to be exported to the grid for a low price.
It also claims to tackle local air pollution by eliminating the emission of particulates and other pollutants from domestic boilers. ZEBs have been designed to provide Demand Side Response (DSR) and flexibility services such as frequency response to Distribution Network Operators and National Grid, thereby supporting the needs of an increasingly low-carbon electricity grid.
BGF leads the round and is joined by existing investors Clean Growth Fund (CGF), Bonheur and Renewable Environmental Investments Ltd.
The funding will enable the development of tepeo’s Wokingham head office, growing production, R&D, assembly and commercial teams, as well as expanding sales across the UK.
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“A ZEB is a simple, low carbon, plug ‘n’ play boiler replacement for consumers and will increasingly play a critical role in reducing the cost of the energy transition and stabilising the electricity networks,” said Johan du Plessis, founder and CEO.
“In the last 12 months we have launched our first ZEB and received an overwhelming amount of interest from consumers.
“We’ve tripled the size of the business and built a solid foundation for scale. This investment from BGF and our existing investors will enable us to scale-up our manufacturing and commercial operations, to offer ZEBs to more and more people across the UK and to start making meaningful progress on decarbonising heating.”
Dennis Atkinson, investor at BGF, said: “We are excited to be investing in tepeo, and in doing so, supporting the UK transition to a low carbon economy.
“tepeo is at the forefront of the urgent activity being undertaken to reduce emissions from households and their innovative technology has an important role to play in the electrification of heating.
“tepeo’s ability to store and discharge heat in a cost-effective manner will also prove crucial in delivering this transition in an efficient way, at a time when energy costs are of crucial importance to consumers.
“We look forward to working with Johan and his talented team and supporting tepeo to achieve its full growth potential.”
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