Dutch wind energy startup Kitepower raises €896K in crowdfunding; 81% of its investors are men

Delft-based Kitepower, a startup generating electricity by flying kites, announced on Monday that it has secured €896K in crowdfunding (at the time of writing this article) on the Crowdcube platform from 797 investors. 

The Dutch company launched this crowdfunding campaign with a target of €700K. The crowdfunding will close on October 4, 2022, Tuesday.

Kitepower says it will use the funds to provide short-term solutions for disaster areas, refugee camps, construction sites, and festivals. 

The announcement comes over a year after raising €3M from Energy innovation fund ENERGIIQ, Stichting ifund, and Windhandel Beheer. 

The need to power up inclusion 

According to the Dutch company, 81 per cent of European investors in Kitepower are male. The largest group of investors is between 31 and 40 years old, and most live in the Netherlands, England, and Germany.

Joep Breuer, CTO, Kitepower, says, “It feels a bit strange to communicate during diversity week that 81 per cent of our investors are male. We are delighted with our success, but the data indicate that there is still a lot to do in the field of inclusion. Let’s hope that the group of investors will be more diverse during the next investment round.” 

How was Kitepower born?

Johannes Peschel and Roland Schmehl founded Kitepower in 2016 as a result of the work done by TU Delft’s Kitepower research group established by the former Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels in 2003.

Wubbo Ockels first began researching kite power generation in 1993 and, by 1997, had filed a patent application for the Laddermill technology. The first 20kW Kitepower system was completed in 2007, proving the concept viable. Currently, Kitepower is developing one of the first containerised on-shore AWES to enter the market.

Kitepower: What you need to know

Kitepower is an Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) company developing innovative and cost-effective alternatives to existing wind turbines. 

Consequently, the company uses kites to generate electricity, using up to 90 per cent less material with the potential of being twice as efficient as conventional wind turbines with the same power output. Kitepower’s target market is microgrids (remote areas, temporary power supplies & off-grid installations) worth $1T. 

“Over the past two decades, the installed capacity of wind turbines worldwide has grown by 14 per cent per year. The lifespan of these wind turbines is 30-40 years, which means that the majority will have to  be replaced around 2050. The goal is to do that with a greener alternative. Our system comprises 90-95 per cent less material than comparable windmills. This results in significantly less CO2 emissions per kW gained,’ says Johannes Peschel, Founder & CEO of Kitepower.

Unlike conventional wind turbines, the company’s systems are much more mobile and easy to deploy since they do not require resource-intensive towers or heavy foundations.

The system can harness more substantial and persistent winds at higher altitudes, allowing for capacity factors greater than 0.5 and cost-effective electricity generation. 

The Dutch company developed its 100kW mobile energy system with a ‘Fast Track to Innovation’ grant from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework programme, guided by a mentoring partnership with tech incubator YES!Delft and with support from angel investor and wind energy expert Henk Hutting. 

For the past five years, the Delft-based company has worked closely with the Ministry of Defense to deploy the power units militarily in hard-to-reach and barren areas.

“Installing and running the system takes less than half a day, and no specific knowledge is required. The containers also need no inlaid foundation and can therefore be placed anywhere. This makes our units perfect for deployment during natural disasters or military missions. The possibilities are endless.” says Johannes Perschel, CEO of Kitepower.