Maven VCTs invest £2 million in PropTech specialist Guru Systems

Guru Systems serves clients such as energy companies, house builders, developers, and housing associations, which are looking to reduce their carbon footprint and operating costs, meet their regulatory obligations and deliver the most efficient and cost-effective service to their own customers.

Guru’s widely adopted carbon saving monitoring technology has been developed to initially focus on heat networks, which generate heat centrally and supply to consumers via a network of underground hot water pipes, avoiding the need for individual boilers or electric heaters in every building. These networks are one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing carbon emissions from heating, and their efficiency and carbon-saving potential is expected to continue to increase as they are able to reach more properties, become interconnected, and are able to utilise large scale heat pumps, combined heat and power plants, and heat recovered from industry and waste.

Delivering low carbon heat is one of the biggest global challenges in the transition to a net zero emissions future, and domestic heating is a major contributor to carbon emissions, already accounting for 13% of the UK’s annual emissions footprint, which is comparable to the contribution of all petrol and diesel cars on UK roads. Low carbon heat networks are a fundamental part of the UK’s decarbonisation strategy, with the Committee on Climate Change expecting the proportion of UK heating delivered via heat networks to rise from 2% to at least 20% by 2050.

Guru’s hardware can be fitted to new build developments or retrofitted to capture data from existing heat networks and other onsite energy systems. AI-driven analytics software then provides complete visibility over the system, from a bird’s eye view down to the performance in each individual dwelling. This helps its client’s identity performance issues, improve efficiency, and reduce carbon emissions.

This is Maven’s sixth VCT funded transaction of 2021 and will support Guru’s investment in sales and marketing resource, as well as the development and roll out of new software and hardware products for heat networks and adjacent markets.

"Guru represents an exciting opportunity for our VCTs to invest in a trusted supplier of carbon saving IoT technology. As a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, residential heating presents one of the greatest challenges in global and UK efforts to achieve net zero emission. Heat networks have a major role to play but, like standalone domestic boilers, they can be hampered by inefficiency. This makes Guru’s sophisticated monitoring and AI-driven analytics technology very attractive to developers and operators as they strive to build efficient and cost-effective heating systems. We look forward to supporting the Guru team and helping them fulfil their growth aspirations."

 David Milroy, Partner at Maven Capital Partners

"Maven’s investment in Guru Systems enables us to capitalise on the significant growth of low carbon heating in the UK and beyond. Our technology supports both the digitalisation and decarbonisation of heat, two of the biggest challenges we face in the transition to a net zero emissions future. For our clients, the housing associations, local authorities and private developers who build and manage residential developments, our technology allows them to make their energy systems more transparent, lower cost and lower carbon. We’re delighted to be working with Maven as we look to grow the team and accelerate our revenue growth."


Casey Cole, CEO at Guru

Maven has a proven track record of working closely with management teams in ambitious business to drive growth and create value. If your business is in need of finance to help unlock its growth potential, Maven may be able to help.