There were echoes of the UK’s Dragon’s Den and its US reality TV brethren Shark Tank when the great and the good of the private equity world gathered in Aberdeen last month to sample the wares of would-be oil & gas sector high fliers.
The occasion was the first ‘entrepreneurs advisory workshop’ arranged by the Oiltech Investment Network (Oiltech) launched in June by a number of investors focused on oil & gas technology. Judged a ‘resounding success’ by participants, the event revolved around 29 entrepreneurial companies pitching their innovative technologies to investors in one-to-one ‘clinic’ sessions. There were also presentations by equity firms, IP attorneys and others on how to gain partner funding, as well as ITF and Innovation Norway talks on alternative routes to funding and internationalisation.
Upstream entrepreneurs looking to connect with energy focused investors should go to www.oiltechinvest.comOiltech members confirmed afterwards that they intend to progress discussions further with more than ten of the companies who pitched. Trond Unneland from Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV), one of the network’s founding members, said: ‘The quality of pitches today was much better than many of the applications that come to us. There were a great range of technologies presented and a number of the companies that I met with were previously unknown to CTV, which is very exciting.’
Managed by OTM Consulting, Oiltech now has ten member companies – Altira Group, CTV, Energy Capital Management, Energy Ventures, Epi-V, Investinor, Lime Rock Partners, SEP, Shoaibi Group and Viking Venture – who between them lay claim to having invested $950 million in more than 70 oil and gas technology companies over the last five years. Future events planned for 2011 include workshops in the UK, Europe and the US. DM
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