Eclipse is accelerating the shift to an independent, renewable-powered electric power network, free from fossil fuels. Founded in 2023, the Paris-based startup develops battery storage infrastructure and real-time optimization tools to help balance electricity supply and demand – a growing challenge in markets dominated by intermittent solar and wind energy.
Co-founder and CEO Augustin Derville, previously co-founder of Electra – a fast-charging network for EVs that had raised over €700 million, and which is currently operating in nine countries – launched Eclipse to help solve a systemic problem in energy markets: the mismatch between when renewable energy is produced and when it's actually needed.
In 2023, Electra raised €5.5 million to build out their early infrastructure and attract key talent. Of that amount, €500,000 was raised via a dedicated SPV set up through Roundtable, which made it easy to onboard dozens of investors without compromising on speed, clarity, or control.
In this interview, he shares how Roundtable helped keep the cap table clean, reduce legal costs, and improve visibility into investor progress throughout the raise – along with his advice to founders who are at a similar stage.
Key takeaways:
- By using Roundtable, Eclipse onboarded over 40 angel investors in a single SPV, dramatically reducing legal overhead and cutting down weeks of back-and-forth coordination.
- Real-time tracking, centralized communication, and a smooth onboarding experience allowed the team to focus on what mattered: closing the round and building momentum.
- More than just capital, the angels brought real strategic value – from potential customers and industry connections to deep insights and credibility that helped drive broader investor confidence and accelerate Eclipse’s growth.
Roundtable: Could you please introduce Eclipse and tell us what led you to launch the company?
Augustin Derville: At Eclipse, our mission is to bring flexibility to electricity markets. Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen growing adoption of renewable energy – both solar and wind – but the fact is that neither of these sources can be controlled. In other words, electricity can’t always be produced when it’s actually needed.
Two of my co-founders had worked in electricity markets for years and saw firsthand how hard it was becoming to balance supply and demand. Solar and wind plants – which produce power at near-zero marginal cost – were sometimes being shut off because they were generating too much electricity at the wrong time. We realized that if we could store that energy, we could make a real impact on grid stability. A clear solution to that problem is battery storage.
We operate around two pillars:
- Infrastructure, by developing electricity storage sites (battery parks)
- Real-time optimization, by managing those batteries with algorithms that anticipate grid needs and charge or discharge accordingly
As for me, Eclipse is the second company I’ve co-founded. The first one was Electra, which focused on fast charging for electric vehicles. That company grew significantly — it’s now active in nine countries, has raised over €700 million, and employs around 300 people. I left Electra about a year and a half ago to launch Eclipse, where I’m now co-founder and CEO.
Roundtable: What made you consider using Roundtable for Eclipse’s fundraising round?
Augustin Derville: The biggest motivator was my fundraising experience at Electra. Back then, we brought in 20 to 30 business angels, and they all had to sign legal documents which we needed to prepare, such as shareholder agreements among many others. Chasing after signatures was a nightmare: someone was always on vacation or unavailable. I figured there had to be a better way.
A few friends and some angels with real strategic value wanted to take part in the first financing round when I launched Eclipse — especially after having missed out on investing in Electra previously. But I had no interest in chasing 30+ signatures again. That’s when Roundtable became the obvious choice.
Setting up an SPV, drafting all the agreements, handling all the legal and admin work on your own takes a huge amount of time, especially in the middle of a fundraising round. Roundtable made everything easier and allowed people who aren’t institutional investors to participate and bring real value to the project.
We ended up onboarding between 40 to 50 business angels – the platform really helped simplify the process and reduce the effort of managing individual investors to a minimum.
Roundtable: What’s the typical profile of Eclipse’s investors?
Augustin Derville: We could talk about two different profiles:
- Those who invested directly in the company, including the VC fund Wind Capital, an energy trader, a family office, and myself
- Investors who joined via the Roundtable SPV – a mix of friends and family and about 20 business angels, some of them seasoned professionals
Several of them are well-connected to our industry and bring real strategic value to Eclipse. Most are based in France, but we do have a few international investors.
Roundtable: What was the benefit of using Roundtable?
Augustin Derville: I’d say Roundtable is a true enabler.
Obviously, it’s still up to the company to raise the funds – we were the ones to bring on board the investors. But once that’s done, all we had to do is send them a link to the platform, and everything ran smoothly. Even for foreign investors, the process was very simple, which is a huge plus.
Roundtable: When you say “simple”, what do you mean exactly?
Augustin Derville: One of the most useful features of Roundtable is the ability to track progress in real time. You can see who has signed up, reviewed the documents, and committed. It makes it easy to spot who’s actually moving forward and who might drop out.
A week or two before closing, you can follow up with anyone who hasn’t finalized their investment and say: “If you’re in, great – please finalize your commitment. If not, we’ll open the spot to someone else.”
That happened with one or two people in our round; they had initially said yes, but either didn’t have the funds or changed their minds. And thanks to Roundtable, we hadn’t wasted time drafting legal documents for people who weren’t actually going to sign.
If someone wanted to reduce their ticket or drop out, they could do that easily, and enable us to shift our focus to those who were committed. The platform made these situations much simpler to manage.
Roundtable: Would you say that Roundtable made communication with investors easier?
Augustin Derville: Absolutely. It saved us a lot of time. You can message investors directly through the platform, track their progress, and share key documents like the deck or business plan. Everything is centralized. This eliminates endless back-and-forth emails, which makes it really convenient.
Roundtable: Did this help speed up the fundraising process?
Augustin Derville: Yes, definitely.
When you’re drafting a shareholder agreement with 40 people involved, you have to list each one, define the amount of each investment, and then finalize the cap table.
Whereas in our case, our lawyers only had to include five or six lines of signatories instead of forty. That didn’t just save time, it also helped us save on costs: lawyers often bill based on complexity and time spent, so having a simplified cap table really makes a difference.
Roundtable: How was your experience working with the Roundtable team?
Augustin Derville: It was really good! The team responded quickly, usually on the same day, and the communication was always clear and efficient. That’s something I really appreciated. Plus, post-closing management has been totally hands-off on my side. Investors reach out to Roundtable directly.
Overall, it was a great experience. They provided invaluable support early on, and the Ops team has been fantastic throughout.
Roundtable: What was the impact of that funding on the business? What were your priorities at the time?
Augustin Derville: We were focused on three main priorities back then, for which the funding was absolutely essential:
- Structuring and building the team
- Pre-funding our development – not in terms of tech, but to launch our infrastructure projects: architect fees, grid connection costs, travel, etc.
- Providing collateral to operate on electricity markets, which is a requirement in our industry.
Roundtable: Any advice for other founders who are at a similar stage of fundraising for their company?
Augustin Derville: I often say a funding round is a bit like making mayonnaise. You need the right ingredients to start with, and then you need to create a bit of FOMO among investors.
They need to feel like, “So-and-so is investing, so I should, too.”
That’s where strategic business angels play a key role. VCs are often generalists; bringing in former or current leaders from your industry, or well-known figures in your ecosystem, can add a lot of credibility to your project.
When those people get involved, it sends a strong signal. They validate the market need, the go-to-market strategy, and the team – and that gives other investors confidence to follow.
Surrounding yourself early on with high-value profiles, even on small tickets, can really make a difference.
Roundtable: And I imagine those people can bring real strategic value beyond just the investment?
Augustin Derville: Exactly. It’s not just about the money – it’s about the network and the insights they bring. Some end up becoming customers themselves, while others open doors to key clients, partners, or future hires. These kinds of investors often act as true business accelerators.
{{clients_banner}}
