Investor Profile: Schneider Electric Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Winning SE Ventures funding means joining the venture portfolio of one of the world's largest climate-tech corporate investors. Schneider Electric Ventures is the Silicon Valley-based corporate venture capital arm of Schneider Electric, the French energy-management and automation leader. It launched with a $565 million global fund in 2018 and followed with a €500 million Fund II announced in November 2022, taking total committed capital to €1 billion. That makes it one of the largest VCs focused on climate and industrial technology anywhere.

Thesis

SE Ventures backs "big ideas and bold entrepreneurs" that can gain commercial superpowers from Schneider Electric's scale — combining traditional venture capital with the customer access, domain expertise and distribution reach of a global energy-management leader. The team describes itself as stage-agnostic and outcome-oriented: every investment is expected to explore commercial relationships with Schneider Electric's businesses, customers and partners, generating near-term value alongside financial returns.

Sectors & stages

The fund targets climate tech and industrial tech broadly: energy management, industrial automation and robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, e-mobility, proptech, cybersecurity for industrial networks, IoT and SaaS. It is stage-agnostic, investing from early rounds onward, and operates globally across North America, Europe and the rest of the world. Over 60% of its investments carry a commercial partnership with Schneider Electric.

Fund size & cheque size

Committed capital stands at €1 billion across Fund I ($565 million, launched 2018) and Fund II (€500 million), which began deployment in January 2023. SE Ventures has not published its per-company cheque range, so treat exact ticket sizes as not publicly disclosed.

Notable portfolio

Flagship investments include AutoGrid, Claroty (industrial cybersecurity), Element Analytics, Sense, Titan AES (battery management) and Synapticon (robotics motion control).

Partners / team

The fund is led by Amit Chaturvedy, Global Head and Managing Partner, alongside general partners Grant Allen — formerly head of ABB Technology Ventures — and Varun Jain, formerly of Qualcomm Ventures, who targets energy-efficient technologies for the built environment including homes, offices and data centres. Gregoire Viasnoff leads the fund's incubation practice.

Programs & perks

Beyond the venture fund, SE Ventures runs an incubation practice that funds innovative ideas and teams directly. The real perk, however, is commercial acceleration: with a majority of portfolio companies holding commercial partnerships with Schneider Electric, founders get structured access to business leaders, customers and partners across more than 100 countries — plus operating partners dedicated to portfolio business development.

How to apply for funding from Schneider Electric Ventures

The fund does not run a public application form; the route in is through the team at seventures.com. General partner Grant Allen has said they seek "absolutely best-in-class startups aligned with Schneider's mission of bringing energy and efficiency to enable life, progress and sustainability for all" — so lead with how your technology transforms energy use, buildings, factories or mobility, and make the commercial-fit case with Schneider's businesses explicit.