tepeo sees £10.5M Series A Funding for Zero Emission Boiler Production
tepeo, British designer of the Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB®), announces it has secured £10.5m in Series A Funding to fuel the next stage of the company’s growth and bring it a step closer to its ambition of transforming the way homes are heated.
BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active growth capital investor, is leading the round and is joined by tepeo’s existing investors Clean Growth Fund (CGF), Bonheur and Renewable Environmental Investments Ltd, all backing the future of clean, green and affordable home heating.
tepeo’s patented ZEB is a direct plug-n-play replacement for a gas, oil, LPG or electric boiler, and is a low carbon alternative without compromising on performance. Instead of relying on fossil fuels, its proprietary technology is powered by electricity and works like a battery to store heat efficiently until it is needed.
The ZEB’s smart tech automatically heats a thermal core at the cheapest and greenest times of day, taking into account the customer's electricity tariff, grid carbon intensity forecast, and customers’ preferences for how carbon or cost conscious they want their ZEB to be. From Spring 2023 the ZEB will also be able to charge on excess solar electricity generated by a home’s solar PV that would otherwise have to be exported to the grid for a low price.
At present, 17% of all UK carbon emissions come from heating our homes. For most people this means that their homes present one of the easiest ways to reduce their carbon emissions significantly. Reducing this figure is a key component in addressing the climate crisis and meeting the UK’s ambitious carbon reduction targets by 2035.
The benefits of a ZEB stretch beyond carbon reduction, tackling local air pollution by eliminating the emission of particulates and other pollutants from domestic boilers. ZEBs have been designed to provide Demand Side Response (DSR) and flexibility services such as frequency response to Distribution Network Operators and National Grid, thereby supporting the needs of an increasingly low carbon electricity grid.
The funding will enable the British firm to develop its Wokingham head office, growing its production, R&D, assembly and commercial teams, as well as expanding sales across the UK.
The goal is to decarbonise domestic heating and provide grid stability services that will support the deployment of further renewable generation across the national grid.
Dennis Atkinson, Investor at BGF, said: “We are excited to be investing in tepeo, and in doing so, supporting the UK transition to a low carbon economy. Tepeo is at the forefront of the urgent activity being undertaken to reduce emissions from households and their innovative technology has an important role to play in the electrification of heating. tepeo’s ability to store and discharge heat in a cost-effective manner will also prove crucial in delivering this transition in an efficient way, at a time when energy costs are of crucial importance to consumers. We look forward to working with Johan and his talented team and supporting tepeo to achieve its full growth potential.”
Johan du Plessis, founder and CEO of tepeo, said: “In the last twelve months we have launched our first ZEB and received an overwhelming amount of interest from consumers. We’ve tripled the size of the business and built a solid foundation for scale. This investment from BGF and our existing investors will enable us to scale-up our manufacturing and commercial operations, to offer ZEBs to more and more people across the UK and to start making meaningful progress on decarbonising heating. A ZEB is a simple, low carbon, plug ‘n’ play boiler replacement for consumers and will increasingly play a critical role in reducing the cost of the energy transition and stabilising the electricity networks. This funding is a clear vote of confidence in the enormous size of the opportunity ahead of us and our plans for expansion in order to address it. ”
Stephen Price, Investment Director, at the Clean Growth Fund, said: “We've been extremely impressed with the progress that tepeo has made since our first investment and we're very pleased to be investing further and continuing our support for this exciting young company. The decarbonisation of domestic heating is a huge challenge that must be overcome to achieve Net Zero and we firmly believe that tepeo's products will play a significant role in delivering a solution.”
Lloyd Butterworth, Investment Manager at Fred. Olsen Investments, who manage investment opportunities for Bonheur, said: “We are extremely pleased to participate in the latest funding round, enabling tepeo to continue electrifying residential heat. Since first investing in 2021, we have been especially impressed with tepeo’s progress towards this goal and are delighted to invest alongside both Clean Growth Fund and BGF, who also recognise the significant role tepeo has to play in the decarbonisation of the heating sector.”
James Ritchie, CEO at Renewable Environmental Investments Ltd, said: “REIL has had the pleasure of continuing our support and providing follow-on funding for tepeo.
At REIL, we are delighted to continue to support and provide the follow-on funding; we are very impressed with the progress tepeo have made and back the vision ensuring that the ZEB can revolutionise the way we heat our homes.”
