Swedish startup closes €2.5m seed round for its compact electric marine motors

Swedish startup Zparq, which develops compact electric marine motors, has closed €2.5 million seed round, to bring the company’s technology to the market with emission-free marine propulsion and a low CO₂-footprint over the whole value chain.

Funding round was co-led by Santander (through Santander InnoEnergy Climate Fund) and Almi Invest GreenTech, current investor EIT InnoEnergy is also participating.

Zparq provides compact electric marine motors and complete powertrains for recreational boats and commercial vessels.

According to Zparq, its marine motors are significantly smaller and more efficient compared to rivals and the light design reduces raw material and CO₂ footprint by more than 50 per cent in the production phase.

Zparq originates from a collaboration between the founders and Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH), where the technology has been developed and tested on underwater robots and foiling vessels, since 2017.

Zparq AB was founded in 2020 and joined InnoEnergy’s portfolio shortly after; InnoEnergy became the first institutional investor, supporting the company’s growth throughout its early stages.

“We are very happy to get Santander and Almi Invest GreenTech as new investors, they will provide us with the support required to finalize development of our first products and enable shipment to our customers already this year” says Jonas Genchel, CEO of Zparq.

“Our scalable and modular technology has generated overwhelming interest from boat manufacturers and shipbuilders globally, and we have customers within the complete range from small leisure boats to commercial vessels waiting for our powertrains. The company is currently in the pilot phase with several OEMs and boat builders who are testing its 10kW and 50kW motors. It aims to have several units operating in water by this summer.”

Santander InnoEnergy Climate Fund is the initiative created by Santander AM and EIT InnoEnergy to accelerate the energy transition. It is a venture capital fund investing in early-stage companies (seed through series B) operating in sectors such as circular economy, energy storage and efficiency, transportation and mobility. Santander AM is the portfolio manager of the fund, which will invest mainly in companies coming from EIT InnoEnergy’s ecosystem. 

Almi Invest GreenTech is a venture capital fund specialising in green technologies and sustainable solutions.

EIT InnoEnergy is the largest impact cleantech investor in Europe, supporting and investing in sustainable energy innovations.