Fos4X turns to UVC for $10m series B

Fos4X, a Germany-based wind power digitalisation technology spinout from Technical University of Munich (TUM), closed an €8.2m ($10m) series B round on Friday that featured Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners (UVC Partners).

Energy firm Equinor also invested in the round, as did public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Bayern Kapital, the VC arm of Bavarian state-owned funding agency LfA Förderbank, angel syndicate Business Angels and family office Falk Strascheg Holding.

UVC Partners is an affiliate of TUM’s tech transfer office Unternehmertum.

Founded in 2010, Fos4X has developed a wind farm monitoring and evaluation platform that helps operators build an aerodynamic profile for each wind turbine in order to help estimate their energy output.

The technology applies machine learning to data collected from fibre-optic sensors inside the turbine’s rotor blades to measure oscillation and bending.

Fos4X believes the underlying fibre-optic technology could also appeal to additional areas, such as electric mobility, where a precise gauge on temperatures is required to ensure the smooth operation and safety of vehicles.

The company will use the cash to boost its international growth and further expand its digitalisation business.

UVC Partners previously contributed to a $2.8m round in 2015, also billed a series B, alongside Falk Strascheg Holding, HTGF, Bayern Kapital and Schulze Consulting.­ It is not clear whether the $10m figure includes the earlier amount.

Fos4X had reportedly raised an undisclosed amount of funding in 2013 from UVC Partners, HTGF, Bayern Kapital and Schulze Consulting.