NZGIF investee company ESP has acquired BraveGen, creating New Zealand’s largest energy efficiency and sustainability management solutions software and services business.
NZGIF made a $2.7m equity investment in ESP in 2020 to help it provide New Zealand companies with intelligent energy and carbon management solutions. We are now making an additional $1.75m equity investment to support this acquisition, bringing our total investment in ESP to $4.45m.
“This acquisition highlights the continuing growth of ESP and will broaden and deepen ESP’s carbon management reporting capabilities. NZGIF is pleased to offer our support for the business moving forward,” says NZGIF Chief Investment Officer Jason Patrick.
See ESP’s press release below.
ESP announces acquisition of BraveGen
ESP acquires BraveGen, creating New Zealand’s largest energy efficiency and sustainability management solutions software and services business
Meeting New Zealand’s demand for faster and more efficient carbon emission reduction, ESP identified the need for integrated carbon accounting and emissions reduction services. The company has taken further significant steps to create a unique approach to assessing and reporting sustainability performance by acquiring Environment and Social Governance data management specialist, BraveGen.
Effective immediately, the acquisition sees ESP’s headcount increase by 13 and brings client numbers to 170+ large clients across public and commercial sectors, while growing the company’s footprint to include Wellington, Christchurch, and Tauranga, as well as its Auckland head office. International reach now also includes Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and North America, as BraveGen works with several multinational organisations.
ESP helps companies understand and optimise utility consumption through leading edge monitoring, reporting and consulting services. BraveGen is a leader in enterprise carbon accounting, environmental compliance and sustainability management systems. The combined entity uniquely provides local and international companies with complete carbon and energy efficiency management services, from Software as a Service monitoring and reporting to data analysis, backed by proven consulting services.
Focused on integrating sustainability into every New Zealand business, ESP is already credited for saving up to $60 million by reducing energy consumption and eliminating 49,000 tons of carbon emissions.
ESP CEO Lincoln Watson says BraveGen is a natural strategic fit with mature software and loyal customer base and accelerates ESP’s ambitions to establish itself as a global Carbon Management leader that makes a meaningful difference in reducing climate impact and the cost of doing business. “We have worked with many clients to reduce their energy consumption, saving money and reducing emissions. BraveGen complements our strengths with a powerful software suite already seen as the leader in New Zealand for multiple aspects of ESG, including carbon emissions, with its solutions used by multiple local and international enterprises.”
Watson says the acquisition equips ESP for scale beyond its already extensive New Zealand customer base with a more comprehensive solution set. “We’ve built an effective energy management Software as a Service platform and have already achieved significant market penetration with more than a thousand sites around New Zealand and abroad. With more customers looking to include sustainability, and carbon monitoring and reduction in line with the Zero Carbon Act, BraveGen is a natural fit with its mature software and loyal customer base.”
By investing in building its software in the cloud, ESP’s platform is suitable for use by organisations of any size, reflected in the customer base, which includes small organisations through to companies with national and international operations.
ESP has also recently launched CarbonHUB Start, a solution that collects information from smaller companies and feeds it through to large enterprises. CarbonHUB Start is priced from just $30 a month. One of the biggest challenges for large businesses, after they establish their carbon baseline is tracking, managing and reporting scope 3 emissions – the environmental impact associated with upstream and downstream emissions associated with other businesses. Watson says to address the issue, “When large enterprises require this information from their supply chain, CarbonHUB Start helps deliver the information required efficiently. ESP provides a highly productive integrated solution for businesses to track carbon across the value chain – delivering improved productivity to NZ Inc.”
BraveGen General Manager, Growth & Finance Dan Tomlinson says the company is ‘a force for positive change’. “We use data to help businesses be better and do better in terms of their impact on the world. Combined with ESP, we now offer the broader sustainability insights demanded not only by regulation, but the market.”
He notes BraveGen clients include National Australia Bank, Singapore Telecom, Meridian Energy and Wellington City Council. “The combination of BraveGen’s software with ESP’s suite enables scale in both directions. As the software is integrated and offered from the cloud, expanded functionality means every business can accurately include key ESG metrics in their sustainability reports. And as more organisations do so, a ‘value chain’ view can emerge.”
While the company enjoys an international presence owing to BraveGen’s existing customer base, Watson says the initial focus in the coming months is on bedding down the acquisition and integrating the software offering of the combined entity. “As we integrate BraveGen technology into our own platform, every customer will benefit from complete sustainability management and the ability to quantify emissions accurately and rapidly,” he concludes.
About ESP
ESP is an award-winning, New Zealand owned and operated expert in energy efficiency and decarbonisation. ESP has helped several organisations improve utility efficiency, environmental sustainability, waste reduction and improved asset utilisation for over 20 years. ESP has a proven track record of delivering results, including saving more than $60m and avoiding over 49,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. Its market leading digital services and consulting expertise help businesses efficiently establish current performance, plan improvements and enable stakeholders to take action, change behaviours and ultimately make an impact.
See www.esphq.com for more.