METRON, the French developer of an innovative energy intelligence platform for industry, has completed a new €8 million funding round that was joined by BNP Paribas, Financière Fonds Privés, and Breed Reply. The fresh capital will enable METRON to accelerate its international growth, and the further development of its AI-based energy optimisation solutions. Since its creation in 2013, METRON has now raised a total of nearly €12 million.
Vincent Sciandra, CEO and Co-founder of METRON, says: “This capital raise will enable us to change our commercial dimension, particularly in international markets where we already do 75% of our business. It will also allow us to develop our technology not only to transform energy into a profit centre in industry, but also to serve the new needs from energy sector players. We are delighted with our new shareholders, Financière Fonds Privés and BNP Paribas, as well as the continued support of Breed Reply.”
METRON offers customers an energy intelligence platform which collects, aggregates and analyses in real time all types of data generated by industrial systems, while interfacing directly with external data, such as those from energy markets or weather forecasts. The artificial intelligence engine developed by METRON allows manufacturers to effectively reduce their energy consumption and improve their environmental footprint while entering the era of factory 4.0. This new fundraising will help to strengthen the financing of the company’s R&D effort, which aims to become a key global player in industrial energy intelligence by 2022.
Yann Lagalaye, Head of Energy Transition Capital at BNP Paribas, commented: “METRON helps manufacturers to improve the energy efficiency of their plants with an innovative and incentive-based approach, perfectly meets this ambition. This is why we wanted to be involved with it at this pivotal moment in its technological, international and commercial development”.
Founded in 2013, METRON will have in 2019 a team of around 100 experts (data scientists and energy engineers), helping manufacturers to maximize value from their energy data and deploy their energy efficiency projects within their production processes. METRON works in all sectors of industrial activities, including mining, steel, paper, glass, chemicals, automotive, food & beverage.
The startup, headquartered in Paris, is active in about ten countries and has six operational centres in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. It recently opened two new subsidiaries in Singapore and Sao Paulo to support its key accounts, in particular Danone having industrial sites currently being deployed throughout the world. METRON which has been supported in 2018 by the European accelerator EIT Digital wants to strengthen its international teams in 2019 and open new offices abroad.
