CET Portfolio Company Go Electric Acquired by Saft
We couldn’t be more excited to share the news that Go Electric, one of the first companies to join CET’s 501vc® Seed Fund portfolio, was acquired by Saft! When CEO Lisa Laughner came through our investment process in 2014 we saw a dedicated and determined founder who had left her high-ranking job at Rolls Royce to build an amazing new company.
Go Electric is based in Anderson, Indiana, and delivers reliable and resilient energy for commercial and industrial customers. The company has established itself as a major supplier of microgrid systems to the U.S. military, contracts which have fueled its growth. Since our investment, which represented the company’s first outside money, Go Electric has gone on to raise $10 million and create 34 new jobs. Lisa has also been a savvy operator, strategically leveraging the resources available through the Incubatenergy Network and other support organizations. In addition to working with Clean Energy Trust, Go Electric received support from Elemental Excelerator in Hawaii, NYC ACRE in New York, and the IN2 program, which is funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and administered by NREL.
Saft, a 100-year-old battery company and subsidiary of energy supermajor Total, will establish Go Electric as its Microgrid Center of Excellence and will continue to operate in Anderson, Indiana. This will mean more dollars invested and more jobs created in central Indiana — another example of a company having success in the community in which it was founded. By integrating Go Electric, Saft will now be able to offer customers a more comprehensive energy resiliency solution beyond the batteries alone.
Compounding Impact
The acquisition is the fourth time a CET investment has returned capital to our evergreen, revolving fund. This capital will be re-deployed into the next generation of sustainable technology startups through our 501vc® model.
At CET we don’t have “cohorts” or “graduation ceremonies” — we become life-long partners with our companies and the founders running them. So even though we “exited” the investment, we couldn’t be more excited for Lisa and the whole Go Electric team as they continue growing and building a massive business.
For more on the acquisition, check out additional coverage from these sources:
