Energy firm Orcan uses Ideals for its fundraising due to its quality customer service and transparent pricing

Overview

Orcan Energy is an innovative clean energy company based in Munich. Founded in 2008, the company’s modular technology proved a game changer for waste heat recovery. Today, its ORC systems are among the most popular in the world.

In 2022, the company needed to partner with new investors to fund the next stage of its growth and to enhance its global supply chain. When its previous Virtual Data Room (VDR) supplier proved to be too expensive, Orcan’s deal team chose to work with Ideals due to the user experience and transparent pricing, as well as the high-quality customer service.

“The personal exchange with the Ideals team was decisive. We felt that they understood our needs very well and we were confident it was the best platform for our fundraising,” said Julia Gadanecz, Orcan Energy’s Finance Team Leader.

The context

Originally set up by Munich University in 2008, Orcan Energy developed a new waste energy recovery technology which meant that smaller heat sources and lower temperatures became economically viable for the first time.

Over the years the company had used several funding rounds to support its expansion plans. As well as consolidating its presence in Europe and the US, Orcan wanted to strengthen its foothold in fast-growing emerging markets such as the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. The team was also keen to improve their supply chain to ensure they could respond more quickly to rising demand.

In 2022, the Orcan team began looking for a new VDR provider for their next funding round which aimed to raise a significant amount of capital.

Key challenges

While Orcan had used a VDR provider for its previous funding rounds, the supplier had become too expensive. Julia was therefore looking for a more cost-effective solution which would improve their budget planning for each transaction.

Orcan’s primary needs included:

• Secure document storage
• Fast uploading for different document types
• Controlled access levels that were easy to change
• Reports to track activity and gauge levels of interest among potential investors.

Another key factor in Julia’s decision was how easily the team could transfer files directly from their old data room to the new one.

Solution

Julia chose to use Ideals after being recommended the platform by a former colleague. She was impressed by the VDR’s usability and the clear subscription models, which give a transparent view of costs.

“The subscription plans were easy to understand and had no hidden fees, which you don’t always get from VDR providers. I also appreciated the flexibility offered by Ideals,” says Julia. “For example, we can pause the contract without deleting data, which is perfect for us if we don’t need a VDR for a few months. We can then reactivate it extremely quickly when we need it.”

Using Ideals, Orcan’s new data room was up and running within a day. The team found it very simple to:

• Transfer all files from their previous data room
• Upload new documents quickly and easily
• Set different permission levels so they could allow or revoke access immediately
• Track all activity
• Access great customer support 24/7
• Archive the finished project to a USB.

“The Ideals VDR is very intuitive and the interface design is better than our previous supplier,” says Julia. “The fact that the support team is based in Germany was also very reassuring.”

The team didn’t even take up the offer of training because the VDR is so simple to use. “Ideals is so user-friendly that we didn’t need any help,” she explained.

The future

At certain points in the fundraising process, the Orcan team uses their Ideals data room every day. Their three favorite features are:

• Ease of data transfer and document uploading
• Tracking of external participants’ activities in the VDR
• Straightforward user management

“Our investors are always impressed by our well-maintained and organized data room,” says Julia.

When asked if they would recommend Ideals to somebody wanting a VDR, the answer is:  “Definitely!”