Oilsands fund makes first investments
Puts undisclosed amount into five clean-tech firms
• An investment fund led by two major oilsands players announced new investments in clean technology c o mpanies Tuesday, part of a broader attempt to speed up the development of technologies and reduce the companies’ environmental footprints.
Evok Innovations, a venture capital fund between Calgary - based Suncor Energy Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc., announced in January that it would invest up to $ 100 million in clean technology companies.
Tuesday’s announcement marks the fund’s first investment, the value of which it did not disclose. The investment is in five energy startup firms, ranging in scope from a designer of electric pumps to a bio- remediation company.
Evok is one in a long list of corporate venture funds that oil and gas producers have created in an attempt to discover new technologies, diversify revenues or clean up their image as heavy polluters. The energy industry’s adoption of such funds dates back to the 1970s, when super- majors such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC opened investment divisions.
Evok chief executive Marty Reed said Evok is structured differently than past funds, and aims in part to mimic the investment philosophies of successful Silicon Valley VC firms.
“What differentiates us is that we truly are independent from our funders,” he said. “We operate much like a traditional venture capital firm might.”
Among t he f i ve companies Evok invested in is Rotoliptic Technologies Corp., a company that des i gns l ow- wear el ectric pumps used in pipelines and facilities. “Pumps today consume approximately 10 per cent of the world’s electricity, and there’s been little innovation in that sector for 50 years,” Reed said.
Others include Mosaic Materials, a company developing a more efficient method of stripping CO2 out of exhaust streams, and Metabolik Technologies, which uses a biological process to remove harmful contaminants from tailings ponds.
The fund is based in Vancouver where there is intense opposition to major oil pipeline proposals such as Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Trans Mountain Pipeline and Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway.
The provincial government in B.C. has publicly opposed both pipeline projects, setting out lists of conditions that must be met before it will consider supporting either proposal.