Equinox Ocean Turbines secures EUR 2.4 million in seed funding

EIT InnoEnergy portfolio company, Equinox Ocean Turbines BV, is a pioneering leader in Ocean Current turbine technology. The company announced the successful closing of its seed funding round, raising €2.4 million.
The funding round was led by EIT InnoEnergy with significant participation from Damen Maritime Ventures, NOM, FOM, complemented with the support of Init Power and two private investors.
New capital to accelerate development
This is a significant step towards fulfilling our ambition of making the marine energy sector a commercial reality. Now is the right time to combine efforts and experience of many parties to make Ocean Current Energy a new reality in the energy mix.Pieter de Haas, CEO of Equinox Ocean Turbines
Revolutionising the energy sector
As existing power grids struggle to handle the massive influx of intermittent renewables like solar and wind, capturing the potential of steady, clean energy sources like ocean currents will be crucial for the energy transition to succeed. Equinox has a promising technology for that. This is why we decided to invest in them, complementing our other portfolio companies in the renewables space.Jacob Ruiter, CEO Benelux at EIT InnoEnergy
Investment leads to new offshore energy segment and maritime ecosystem
Equinox is building on the expertise of several parties to leverage their knowledge domains and capabilities. By utilising the Damen network and maritime expertise, Equinox can accelerate its developments which will allow the company to have the first turbine in the water in under two years. Jasper Schuringa, Damen’s Head of Corporate Venturing, adds that their strategic investment in Equinox will kick-start and support the growth of this early phased and innovative start-up company. This investment eventually leads to a new offshore energy segment and maritime ecosystem in which Damen will play a supporting role.
This seed funding round follows a successful pre-seed investment which allowed the company to further develop the business model, perform thied party verification of the technology and to develop the emerging market for clean energy baseload. In addition, the company was recently awarded technical support from the U.S. Department of Energy through the TEAMER programme.