Bratislava-based CloudTalk, which makes AI-powered software for call centres, has raised a €26m Series B (€20m in equity and €6m in debt) co-led by Dutch CVC KPN Ventures and Budapest-based Lead Ventures.
GA Drilling signed an EUR 4.2 million funding agreement with Lead Ventures and a service agreement with MOL Group. Lead Ventures, a Budapest based venture capital firm invests funds provided by MOL Group, and Hungarian Eximbank. The deal gives GA Drilling access to onshore production wells to test its disruptive PLASMABIT plug & abandonment technology in real field conditions. The agreement is a major step in enabling the commercialisation of the PLASMABIT technology, which can bring positive environmental impacts, and significant cost and time reductions when compared to conventional methods of decommissioning of unused oil wells.
GA Drilling is a world pioneer in developing innovative technology for contactless drilling and P&A milling using its proprietary electric plasma disintegration process. The technology opens opportunities within multiple sectors with the initial focus being the environmental plug and abandonment of old wells, slot recovery and other decommissioning services. In parallel, the company continues to develop further applications for hard rock drilling enabling access to deep geothermal energy, as well as tunnelling and mining of raw minerals.
GA Drilling: reaching for first commercial application onshore, waiting for offshore opportunities
The aim of the partnership with Lead Ventures and MOL is to enable GA Drilling to successfully deliver its first commercial application for oil & gas industry, testing PLASMABIT in real field conditions onshore. In the meantime, GA Drilling continues to seek strategic partnerships with other oil majors for offshore platform and sub sea wells for testing PLASMABIT worldwide.
"GA Drilling now has the ability to commercialise its technology with a major oil company in an operational environment as an integrated services company. We can now optimise our PLASMABIT P&A process and prove the commercial effectiveness of the application for the global market. Having MOL Group and Lead Ventures as strategic partners demonstrate the transition, we are making from a technology company to an international service-focused business. It validates our combined efforts, our belief in PLASMABIT as a significant game changer with considerable upside in various applications for the industry. We appreciate continuous support and trust of our equity investors, R&D backing from EU public grants, loan from Slovak government to refinance the long-term infrastructure and extending of industrial cooperation, jointly bringing us to today’s success," said Igor Kočiš, co-founder and CEO of GA Drilling.
"The novel solution developed by GA Drilling has the potential to positively disrupt a very traditional segment of the energy markets. In our view this is one of the most promising energy innovations in the Central European region. Lead Ventures is committed to support those innovative companies which require substantial funding to further their development and has the potential to be the next success story in Central Eastern Europe" - said Ábel Galácz, CEO of Lead Ventures.
In currently opened Series "B" round of financing, GA Drilling has contracted more than 85% of round’s investment volume. The earlier investors of Series "B" round – Berlin Technologie Holding, Slovak Investment Holding and American investor Ted Halstead have been followed by MOL Group, European oil major. MOL signed the Service Agreement, enabling GA Drilling to gain the access to onshore production wells. The direct investment from MOL Group is executed through their investment body Lead Ventures founded in 2018. Remaining part of the last ticket left in the Series "B" continues to be in negotiations.
