Ardian partners with the leading battery technology specialist Munich Electrification providing capital to accelerate the Company’s strategy

Ardian, a global private investment firm, is acquiring a majority stake in Munich Electrification from the company’s founders. Munich Electrification provides battery management systems (BMS) and electronics, control and sensor components, as well as software primarily for electric mobility and battery energy storage systems (BESS) applications. As part of the transaction, the founders of Munich Electrification will retain a minority stake, while the existing management team will significantly invest alongside Ardian and the founders into the company. Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction.

The Munich-based company was founded in 2014 and currently employs around 300 people. As leading battery technology specialist, the company’s main area is the development and provision of mission-critical BMS applied in commercial vehicles, BESS and passenger cars, combining hardware, software and sensor technology. Munich Electrification addresses structurally attractive and fast-growing industries, which are supported by strong long-term market fundamentals including the global electrification of transportation, decarbonization of energy systems and tightening regulatory requirements.

All systems including the proprietary software are developed in-house while series production is carried out by partners in Europe and soon USA. The company is well positioned to be an integral part in the European energy transition and technological sovereignty with major foothold and strong customer base in the US. The complementary management team has gained in-depth expertise through previous positions held at Tesla, Daimler, BMW, Audi, Continental and Bosch, amongst others. The product portfolio is based on a modular platform strategy that combines hardware with customized software and system configurations. This enables rapid and flexible adaptation to a wide variety of customer needs and application fields, as well as high scalability in production volumes. Munich Electrification’s customers include leading automotive OEMs and Tier-1s as well as utility-scale BESS system integrators, located primarily in the USA and Europe. 

As part of the transaction, Ardian provides additional capital to Munich Electrification to accelerate the company’s strategic objectives and support its expansion plans. In partnership with Ardian, Munich Electrification intends to drive further growth by diversifying across market segments and expanding into new geographies. Alongside its strong organic growth trajectory, the company will explore selective buy-and-build opportunities to scale its platform and strengthen its market position in both existing and adjacent application fields, such as non-road mobile machinery (NRMM), data centers, drones & defense, and automation & robotics.

“Developing Munich Electrification into Europe's leading independent battery technology company focusing on BMS has been an extraordinary journey. In just over ten years, we have developed into a leading supplier trusted by top-tier commercial vehicle OEMs and energy storage integrators across Europe and the United States, with a modular product platform that sets the benchmark for accuracy, safety and flexibility in our industry. To capture the significant opportunities to new segments and geographies ahead we wanted a partner with the industrial depth, European roots and global reach to accelerate that ambition. In the Expansion team at Ardian, we have found exactly that, and we look forward to writing this next chapter together.” Georg-Friedrich Graf, CEO, Munich Electrification

“Munich Electrification is exactly the type of company Ardian’s Expansion team was built to partner with: a European technological champion led by an exceptional management team that has built one of the largest BMS R&D organization globally.  A BMS is the brain of a battery, and with its proprietary, highly reliable and secure system, Munich Electrification is best positioned to benefit from the overall electrification trend while supporting European technological sovereignty. Commercial vehicle electrification and the rapid build-out of utility-scale energy storage are among the most sustainable growth themes currently observable. We are providing additional capital alongside this transaction to accelerate the company's development pipeline and geographic expansion, and we look forward to supporting Georg and his team as they build Munich Electrification into the global leader for battery technology.” Max Dolata, Managing Director Expansion, Ardian