Legal & General and Equinor Ventures co-lead £15.2m Series B raise for innovative technology and renewables businesses Rovco & Vaarst
As part of the expansion of its clean energy portfolio, Legal & General Capital (Legal & General) alongside the venture capital arm of the international energy company Equinor, announces that it has co-led the Series B raise into affiliated, innovative blue technology and renewables businesses, Rovco and its sister company Vaarst.
Legal & General will invest £8.5m out of £15.2m raise. Other participants include strategic investor for the US intelligence and defence communities and allied nations, In-Q-Tel, and existing shareholder Foresight Group.
Vaarst is a leading provider of subsea 3D computer vision technologies; supporting the offshore wind, wave & tidal, scientific, maritime security, and civils industries. It is bringing forward ground-breaking AI-based technology, seeking to revolutionise how energy companies manage subsea infrastructure and improve asset integrity. Rovco delivers this technology into the energy transition space mainly focused on its use for subsea surveys in offshore wind and oil field decommissioning.
Vaarst’s innovative technology is designed to substantially lower the costs of subsea surveying. At present, typical costs for a single crewed service vessel working on a maritime asset can reach up to £10m per month, which is both labour and cost intensive. Vaarst’s technology can help reduce this cost whilst speeding up processes and optimising the long-term condition of assets.