News

19 December 2022

The Club degli Investitori invests in Zaphiro

Lausanne, Switzerland, 19 December 2022 – Zaphiro Technologies, a leading Swiss cleantech company in the Smart Grid sector, completed a CHF 6.4m Series A financing round. The investors are ABB Technology Ventures, CDP Venture Capital SGR (Corporate Partners I fund – Energy Tech sub-fund), Club degli Investitori, Excellis, and a private investor introduced by UBS Growth Advisory. In addition, Zaphiro obtained the financial support of the Technology Fund.

With SynchroGuard, its smart grid IoT software platform, Zaphiro helps grid operators to tackle the energy transition by mitigating the impact of renewables and electric vehicles on the stability of power distribution grids. This Series A funding allows Zaphiro to commercialize and grow its solution in new geographies and markets as well as continue to innovate.

Paolo Romano, co-founder and CEO of Zaphiro, says: “Modernization of distribution grids is a core aspect of energy transition. The integration of clean energy sources is massively changing the energy flows and dynamics of distribution grids, generating a strong need for accurate grid monitoring, real-time management of blackouts, and failure prediction.”

Lorenzo Zanni, co-founder and COO of Zaphiro, adds: “This is a great recognition for our team and the value our innovative technology provides to our customers. This fundraise will accelerate the deployment of SynchroGuard, enabling the digitalization and decarbonization of power grids worldwide.”

Zaphiro’s SynchroGuard is the first distribution grid monitoring and automation system leveraging high-speed and time-synchronized measurements from Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) devices, specifically adapted to distribution grids. SynchroGuard uses advanced data analytics to provide full visibility of energy flows and asset status using a minimal number of measurement points, significantly reducing grid operation costs. Using SynchroGuard, faults in the distribution grid can be precisely located in a matter of seconds, helping grid operators to reduce or even prevent blackouts, thus guaranteeing a reliable energy supply to electricity customers.

Marino Giocondi, responsible of Corporate Partners I fund of CDP Venture Capital, comments: “For the whole team of the Corporate Partners I fund it is a great satisfaction to be part of such an important investment round of an international company. The technological solution developed by Zaphiro has raised a lot of interest from our Corporate investors who have validated its technical and market viability, which is essential for all our investments.”

Axel Masucci, Club degli Investitori’s member, comments: “Energy networks are facing major challenges. We know the keywords: renewable energies – electric vehicle charging infrastructure – battery storage – shortages in generation capacity etc. Zaphiro’s highly innovative hardware and software solutions for controlling and managing medium-voltage electricity grids can make a crucial contribution to the security of supply that we all care about.”

François Marti, Chairman of Zaphiro, comments: “Zaphiro has reached key milestones both in terms of product maturity and market traction. The solution offered by SynchroGuard is the result of years of work of a very talented team who, early on, understood the challenges of the smart grid market. The high caliber of financial and strategic partners demonstrates a growing awareness across the globe of the need to modernize and digitalize distribution grids.”

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