Gevi, a start-up specialising in the design of smart vertical micro wind turbines, has announced that it has closed a seed round worth €2.7 million. The operation is led by 360 Capital, through the Poli360 fund, together with CDP Venture Capital. (with the involvement of the Accelerators Fund, the MiSE Co-Investment Fund and the ToscanaNext Fund). The British investment company NextStep One also participated in the round.
The funds raised in this round will be used for product industrialisation, with the start of mass production of turbines, technological development, with the enhancement of control AI, and new versions of the turbine. At the same time as the closing of the round, the company announced the arrival of its new general manager, Giuseppe Imburgia, who has experience in start-ups and scale-ups, as well as several years in strategic consulting. He will lead the scale-up phase, supporting the founders in the process of industrialisation and international growth.
Gevi was founded in 2022 by three Tuscan engineers: Emanuele Luzzati (CEO and head of engineering), Edoardo Simonelli (head of product) and Soufiane Essakhi (head of operations). It developed the first self-learning vertical axis micro wind turbine, capable of adapting to the wind in real time thanks to artificial intelligence systems that dynamically adjust the angle of the blades. The company now has a team of 10 people with a research and development headquarters in Pisa and sales and operations offices in Rome. Gevi’s mission is to bring to market a modular, distributed, silent and zero-kilometre renewable energy solution that complements photovoltaics and can also be integrated into urban contexts. The company has been accelerated by Zero, the cleantech accelerator of CDP Venture Capital’s National Accelerator Network with main partner Eni, launched together with Zest and Elis.
La turbina Gevi è una micro eolica ad asse verticale di nuova generazione, progettata per superare i limiti delle soluzioni tradizionali. È caratterizzata da profili palari dinamici, la cui angolazione viene regolata in tempo reale, ogni centesimo di secondo, da un sistema di intelligenza artificiale capace di analizzare continuamente il vento, risolvere complessi sistemi di equazioni fluidodinamiche e ottimizzare la produzione energetica. Questa architettura consente maggiore efficienza (fino al +60% di energia annua rispetto alle migliori VAWT – Vertical Axis Wind Turbine – presenti sul mercato), affidabilità e sicurezza (il controllo attivo delle pale riduce fino all’80% i carichi in caso di vento forte, e versatilità, grazie a un design compatto (altezza rotore 3 m, diametro 5,4 m) e silenzioso, che ne consente l’installazione in contesti urbani, industriali e agricoli. La turbina Gevi, infine, consente di generare energia a chilometro zero, si avvia con meno di 2,5 metri al secondo di vento e a velocità di crociera produce 5 kW di potenza elettrica, ideale per l’autoconsumo e per le micro-reti locali. Tutti questi elementi ne fanno una turbina che non si limita a catturare il vento, ma lo interpreta e impara da esso, trasformando in energia pulita ciò che prima andava disperso.
“Gevi is a wonderful Italian success story which, thanks to this round of funding, will be able to increase its production volumes and satisfy the growing market interest in its technology, in a context where distributed energy production is increasingly becoming a viable alternative to large-scale energy production,” said Imburgia (pictured with the three founders) in a statement.
“With this round of investment, we can bring a new wind power paradigm to the market, offering a distributed and modular solution capable of reaching places where photovoltaics and traditional wind power cannot. The support we have received allows us to transform our technology into a scalable, industrial product, accelerating Gevi’s contribution to the energy transition. Thanks to the confidence of investors, we will be able to give strength to a radical idea: turbines that learn from the wind and interact with nature, transforming what was previously dispersed into energy,” explains Luzzati.
“We are proud to support Gevi, which uses artificial intelligence to make micro wind power scalable and cost-efficient. The turbine works in synergy with solar power, ensuring a more resilient and efficient distributed energy model that provides a concrete response to the challenges of the energy transition,” adds Alessandro Zaccaria, partner at 360 Capital.
“We are delighted to accompany Gevi in its next phase of growth and internationalisation, having supported it throughout its acceleration process. The team has demonstrated its ability to transform advanced research into scalable, high-impact solutions, combining technological vision and industrial pragmatism in a key sector for the energy transition. We strongly believe in the potential of their smart turbine to revolutionise distributed energy, with the ambition of bringing urban wind power to a European scale,” says Stefano Molino, head of CDP Venture Capital’s Accelerator Fund.
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