Helsinki-based Norsepower, a cleantech company that provides mechanical sails for large ships, announced on Tuesday, March 28, that it has raised €28M in a Series C round of funding.
French asset manager Mirova, a Natixis Investment Management subsidiary, led the investment through its impact private equity Mirova Environment Acceleration Capital fund.
Mirova Environment Acceleration Capital is a French limited partnership (société de libre partenariat – French Specialised Professional Fund, AIF) made up of several distinct sub-funds that are open to new subscriptions from qualified investors. Mirova is the management company.
The round also saw participation from The Finnish Climate Fund (Ilmastorahasto), OGCI Climate Investments, Nefco – The Nordic Green Bank, Tesi, and Power Fund III.
These organisations have come together to help Norsepower scale up production and expand the application of its fuel-saving and emissions-reducing technology.
About Norsepower
Founded in 2012, Norsepower aims to reduce the environmental impact of shipping through its Rotor Sail Solution technology. The Rotor Sail technology is based on the Magnus effect.
The Norsepower Rotor Sail is an improved version of the Flettner rotor. The Flettner rotor was named after Anton Flettner, a German aviation engineer and inventor who began creating the rotor sail in the 1920s.
The Norsepower Rotor Sail rotates cylinder-shaped propellers on the ship’s deck with a negligible quantity of electrical power. Wind and rotation together produce strong propulsion, which reduces emissions and saves gasoline.
The company reports that there are 30,000 vessels on the water currently that could use the company’s Rotor Sails, which highlights the potential to cut CO2 emissions by 80 megatons annually across the entire world fleet.
Norsepower also claims that customers have been using its product for more than eight years, and it has 250,000 working hours of confirmed performance data that it obtained from some of the most renowned shipping firms and charterers in the world.
This performance data includes installations in collaboration with clients like Bore, Sea-Cargo, Scandlines, Vale, CLdN, Nippon Marine, and Socatra.
The data, which shows fuel consumption savings of 5-25 per cent or even more, has been measured and independently analysed by Lloyd’s Register, one of the top shipping providers of classification, compliance, and consultancy services to the marine and offshore industries.
Additionally, ABB, NAPA, Chalmers University of Technology and VTT have also analysed the data, says Norsepower.
Capital utilisation
Norsepower says it will use the funds to accelerate its scale of production to meet increasing global demand.
The company will also strengthen its product research & development, marketing, recruitment, and sizable intellectual property portfolio.
Iain Fergusson, a Board member of Norsepower and General Counsel of Climate Investments, says, “There’s a pressing need to facilitate more deployments and funnel investment into decarbonising shipping where, as Norsepower is demonstrating that innovation is already delivering meaningful fuel and emissions savings for global operators.”
“We are delighted to expand our backing of Norsepower and look forward to driving further adoption, expansion, and impact,” adds Fergusson.
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