Mixing it up with energy startups at Norrsken

This week, the Oilholic attended the launch of Norrsken Foundation's annual selection list of the 100 most promising early-stage startups - the Norrsken 100 - in Barcelona, Spain at IMPACT/WEEK 2026. 

What's piqued this blogger's interest in the list is the rising prominence of energy startups on it. Of the 100 startups to have received the recognition, 26 happen to be energy upstarts. 

First a word on the list, the foundation curates it from nominations made by 80-odd partners including prominent global venture capital firms, NGOs, academics and industry professionals in the sphere. 

This year they received over 1,400 applications to be judged on the criteria of those attempting to solve "global challenges at scale" by outperforming legacy models that created them. "In our opinion, they shape what comes next and perhaps represent 100 ways to fix the future," said a spokesperson. 

In a rapidly electrifying, digitizing and automating world that is staring at an exponential growth in energy demand, it is perhaps no surprise that over a fourth those attempting to change the way we do things on the Norrsken list happen to energy startups. 

At the unveiling of the Norrsken 100 - at Norrsken House, Barcelona on Wednesday - was none other than former US Secretary of State, Massachusetts Senator and Climate Envoy John Kerry. 

He's the current Co-Executive Chairman of investment firm Galvanize that focuses on scaling up commercially competitive climate solutions. 

Following the unveiling and keynote remarks by Kerry, yours truly caught up with him to discuss the energy market's direction and rising global demand permutations. 

"Meeting this rising challenge will require collaboration, and encouraging startups like the ones recognised here. Question here is not which energy transition solution to back but rather what can be accelerated and upscaled where in the shortest possible time at the most competitive price," he noted. 

Yours truly also discussed the emerging energy landscape in the US. He described it as pretty "promising," despite the febrile political atmosphere stateside that he alluded to in his opening remarks at the event, albeit a tad skewed to his political leanings. 

Beyond the US, Kerry emphasised the need to bring "Global South" along for the energy transition journey as the biggest effects of energy poverty and most devastating effects of climate change are often felt there. 

Following a conversation with Kerry, this blogger headed to the event's dialogues and a rather unique 'Fixathon.' A spokesperson described it a "hackathon, but focused on solving real-world challenges that desperately need fixing."

And based on this premise, the participants collaborate in teams to turn ideas into applicable solutions or working prototypes, using AI and open tools. 

Away from the sessions, dialogues, meetings and fixathons, the Oilholic mingled with the founders and CEOs of three energy startups on the Norrsken 100. 

They included Saurabh Kapoor, CEO of Metafuels, a name the readers of this blog should be pretty familiar with. (More here, if you are not). 

The other two included - Guilherme Studart, CEO of Delfos Energy, an energy-tech firm that deploys AI via a purpose-built platform for the advanced management of renewable energy assets, and Linus van Ginhoven, Head of Product at Blykalla, a company offering lead-cooled nuclear technology solutions. It was great hearing from both about their respective firms, and their plans for the future.  

Well that's all from Barcelona folks, more market musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Critical Mass click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo I: Norrsken IMPACT/WEEK 2026 proceedings.Photo II: Former US Secretary of State John Kerry (left) with Energy Market Analyst Gaurav Sharma. Photo III (right to left): Energy Market Analyst Gaurav Sharma, with Harry Ashcroft, co-founder of Perseid and Saurabh Kapoor, CEO and co-founder of Metafuels. © Gaurav Sharma, October 2026. 

On deep tech startups in the Munich-Dresden corridor

Markus Bohl, CEO of Ignite Next (right)
with Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma,
in Munich, Germany.

For much of the year, the Oilholic has been researching how emerging deep tech startups in the energy and industrials space appear to find a natural home in Germany's Munich-Dresden corridor. 

This concluded with a Forbes feature on the subject available here, should you wish to read it. The initial focus of the research was on purely on the Munich's startup ecosystem. 

But scale-up and mentoring experts Markus Bohl and Alois Eder - the co-founders of Ignite Next - were pretty instrumental in convincing yours truly that Dresden should figure in the mix too, as part of an innovative 400 km-wide corridor. 

For context, Ignite Next helps startups connect, work and scale-up with multiple partners across a broad range of frontier technologies, from semiconductors, photonics, advanced manufacturing, robotics and artificial intelligence, through to quantum computing. Bohl and Eder believe the Munich-Dresden region provides the ideal setting for it. "The overarching idea has always been to give founders direct access to technical expertise, market insight, and investor readiness support in a wider deep tech ecosystem that we’re all a part of in Munich and Dresden," Bohl added. 

Quite frankly, as The Oilholic noted in the Forbes feature, the numbers speak for themselves. Munich remains the primary driver of valuation in Germany - outside of Berlin - securing around the €3 billion ($3.5 billion) mark in raises per year, with a total registered startup enterprise value of over €101 billion ($115 billion), according to Dealroom data.

That’s over a fourth of the combined enterprise value of all VC-backed German startups founded since 1990. The market in Dresden operates on an intertwined scale that’s a fifth smaller than Munich’s each year, but one that’s highly targeted.

As the region marches onwards and upwards, over a fourth of these startups describe themselves as energy, industrial, clean technology or zero-carbon mobility outfits and consider themselves to be increasingly instrumental in driving a Europe-wide "energiewende" or energy transition as their numbers continue to rise. 

(Left to right) Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma, Kevin Berghoff, CEO and Co-founder of Quantum Diamonds, Alois Eder, CTO of Ignite Next and Fleming Bruckmaier, CTO and Co-founder of Quantum Diamonds, at the company's laboratory in Munich.

Via the good folks at Ignite Next, the Oilholic also met the founders of a couple of these startups. The first was Proxima Fusion, who's CEO Francesco Sciortino explained how his energy startup is developing commercial nuclear fusion power plants. 

Its core offering banks on commercialising "stellarator-based" magnetic confinement fusion technology. So far it has raised over €200 million ($230 million) in equity and grants. In simple terms, a stellarator is a fusion power device that confines plasma using external magnets.

And the second was Quantum Diamonds, a startup developing atom-sized quantum sensors carrying the potential to "redefine" measurement in various high-tech industries like semiconductors, according to CEO Kevin Berghoff. 

Both Berghoff and fellow co-founder Fleming Bruckmaier, also invited The Oilholic for a fascinating and informative tour of their laboratory and operational site in Munich, where their team is attempting to commercialise synthetic diamond-based quantum sensors with nitrogen-vacancy centers to provide non-destructive, high-resolution magnetic imaging of semiconductor chips. In today's fraught geopolitical climate that'll probably be deeply appreciated. 

Well that's all for the moment folks! Sincere thanks to Ignite Next, Quantum Diamonds and Proxima Fusion for their time for The Oilholic's wider research into the region, and here's wishing them all every success for the future. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Critical Mass click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo I: Markus Bohl, CEO of Ignite Next (right) with Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma. © Ignite Next, June 2026. Photo II: (Left to right) Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma, Kevin Berghoff, CEO and Co-founder of Quantum Diamonds, Alois Eder, CTO of Ignite Next and Fleming Bruckmaier, CTO and Co-founder of Quantum Diamonds, at the company's laboratory in Munich, Germany. © Quantum Diamonds, June 2026.