Italian oil and gas giant Eni wants to build a cleaner and greener future. The Rome-based company, which earned over $80 billion in revenue last year, is establishing a venture capital arm in Boston.
The entity, Eni Next, operates out of Eni's new abode on State Street in Downtown Boston. It has already made two local investments, in Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Form Energy.
Max Pieri, the cleantech director at Eni Next, itemized three investment areas the firm will prioritize next year: cleantech (with a focus on renewables), industrial innovation and digital (use of machine learning and AI in the energy space).
In 2020, the firm plans to raise its headcount to 15 in Boston and possibly open offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and London. Right now, the firm is seeking a chief investment officer and a C-suite technology director, as well as an IP expert and investment associates.
Why Boston? For one, the firm has a longstanding partnership with MIT. In 2008, Eni partnered with MIT for a "strategic collaboration," involving 100 researchers working on 40 energy transition-related projects to forge a path to the future with low-carbon energy. The main research areas include solar energy, carbon capture and energy storage.
"Nuclear fusion and carbon capture are personally very exciting to me," said Pieri. "We're invested in the relationship we have with MIT, making Boston a natural choice for establishing an office."
The energy behemoth is also collaborating with the university on advancing the technology used in its core business: oil production. Improving workers' health and safety is another focus area of the project.
It's not Eni's first rodeo. Eleven years ago, Eni spent $50 million to become a founding member of the MIT Energy Initiative in 2008.
