Ancala wins Inspiratia's Innovative Smart Infrastructure Deal of the Year

Inspiratia’s European Energy Transition Awards 2025 celebrate the pioneers driving the shift towards a net zero future. The programme’s awards highlight the landmark transactions that have made a significant impact on Europe’s energy transition. These deals demonstrate exceptional leadership, innovation and commitment to a cleaner, more resilient energy future.

Ancala completed the acquisitions of Solandeo and Hausheld in 2024. Through these acquisitions, Ancala created Germany’s largest independent smart metering platform, finalising the merger of the two companies in 2025. At the time of the merger, Ancala also made two bolt-on acquisitions to further strengthen the platform’s digital capabilities and provide a complete smart metering solution to customers.

The combined platform serves the two fastest-growing segments of the German market: municipal utility rollouts (Hausheld) and residential and self-sufficient producers and consumers of renewable energy (Solandeo). Both operate under long-term contracts.

The Inspiratia judging panel noted that Ancala’s creation of Germany’s largest independent smart metering platform “stands out for strengthening the foundations for Europe’s emerging smart infrastructure landscape through a sustainable data driven system.”  The judges added: “Ancala’s investment supports Germany’s nationwide smart meter rollout, enhances grid visibility and enables more flexible energy usage for households, business and decentralised assets.”

The investments in Solandeo and Hausheld are symbolic of Ancala’s entrepreneurial approach to sourcing. The idea originated in Ancala’s company-wide idea sessions, where the team identified German smart metering as a sector with strong policy momentum and attractive infrastructure characteristics.

Ancala built a detailed understanding of the market, its regulatory tailwinds, market structure and the hurdles slowing previous rollout efforts, while expanding its contacts across the sector.

Ancala identified Solandeo and Hausheld as the two leading independent players, with strong order books, established customer relationships and proven technology. Ancala stood out as the preferred partner for both businesses due to its track record in building growth platforms and its deep understanding of the market.

The smart meter rollout – which Ancala’s investment is supporting – will be a vital building block in the transition to a more efficient, lower-cost and decarbonised energy system in Germany.

Ancala is actively worked with the smart metering platform to deliver on its existing order book and to secure more orders. The platform has more than doubled contracted orders to over 500,000 since Ancala first invested in 2024.

Find out more about The Inspiratia European Energy Transition Awards 2025, here.