Ignacio López Martín
Founder & Managing Partner, Vida Sustainable Ventures
Seville, Spain · English · Spanish
Serial founder and independent board member in energy. Industrial engineer based in Seville, operating in Spain and Portugal, with Europe as the market. I co-founded Cable Energía and stayed as CEO through its sale to Shell. Today I chair the boards of Capflex Energía and Supercubo, and through Vida Sustainable Ventures I have co-founded Eolinet Renovables and The Seafolk. I also sit on boards and advise investors in renewables, storage and infrastructure.
The step Spain finds hardest: turning permitted renewables and storage projects into operating assets, from grid access and construction to financing. That stretch is where most of the value in the energy transition is being created now, and where it helps to have someone who has already built a company, run it and sold it.
Track record
2019 – 2023
Cable Energía
Co-founder · CEO
Co-founded in Seville with Jesús Nieto: an EV fast-charging platform across Spain and Portugal — a network operator, not a hardware vendor. Grupo Cuerva took 51% in 2021. Shell acquired 100% in July 2022 and I stayed on as CEO through the integration until the end of 2023. In 2025 Acciona Energía bought the business from Shell. One asset, four owners — founder, energy group, oil major, infrastructure player — and still running.
Today
Eolinet Renovables
Co-founder
Cleaning and inspection of entire wind turbines with drones flown from the ground, founded with P.G.S. Wind O&M as it actually is: field work, weather windows and campaigns already carried out and invoiced in 2026 for a major utility in Spain. An operating business, not a pitch deck.
Today
Capflex Energía
Founder · Chairman of the board
Develops and sells stand-alone and hybrid battery storage (BESS) projects in Spain, for its own book and for third parties under development agreements. Portfolio of 500 MW. I chair the board and take an active part in management. Real governance, in the technology that decides the next decade of the grid.
Today
Supercubo
Chairman of the board
Modular timber gyms and wellness units, designed and built in Spain, sold to businesses and, through Supercubo Home, to private homes.
Today
The Seafolk
Co-founder
A boat-exchange club for owners, co-founded with Soco Núñez de Cela: members swap their boats with each other instead of leaving them moored. Not charter, not rental.
Today
Vida Sustainable Ventures
Founder & Managing Partner
The platform I build, invest and advise from. Seville. Energy, renewables, infrastructure and software — companies started from inside the industry, not backed from outside it.
Board & advisory
I also sit on boards, as independent director or chairman, and take advisory mandates in Iberia and Europe. A fund holds an asset for about six years and the asset lives for more than twenty: someone in the boardroom has to own that gap, and it is better owned by someone who has built, scaled and sold in the same asset class. The fit is sharpest in fund-owned midcaps in these asset classes:
A platform that has to industrialise: governance, reporting and an operating team that survives the next size.
Getting a company in shape to be bought. Diligence is not won when the offer letter arrives — it is won years earlier. I have been through it from the seller's chair, twice on the same asset.
When the model and the asset have drifted apart, and someone in the room has to know what actually happens at the site.
Buy-side and sell-side support in energy and infrastructure — founder to founder, board to board.
“I don't take mandates where I add no real edge. If the problem isn't one of mine, I say so on day one.”
Speaking
I speak at industry and investor events, in English and Spanish. Not a motivational talk — what actually happened, with the numbers I am allowed to give.
Founding Cable Energía, scaling it across Spain and Portugal, and passing three industrial due diligences: an energy group, an oil major and an infrastructure player.
What the pipeline numbers actually mean, why the private-equity models get merchant storage wrong, and what Europe can learn from the Spanish years.
Why a fund's six-year hold and an asset's twenty-year life need someone in the room who has built the thing, not just modelled it.
Starting companies from inside the industry instead of investing from outside it.
“Paid engagements. Tell me the audience and the outcome you want, and I'll tell you if I'm the right person.”
Writing & press
FAQ
An industrial engineer and serial founder based in Seville, Spain. He co-founded Cable Energía in 2019, an EV fast-charging platform in Spain and Portugal that Shell acquired in July 2022 and Acciona Energía bought from Shell in 2025. He stayed on as CEO through the Shell integration until the end of 2023. Today he chairs the boards of Capflex Energía and Supercubo, is co-founder of Eolinet Renovables and The Seafolk, and is Founder & Managing Partner of Vida Sustainable Ventures.
Yes. He builds companies around assets that spend most of their time idle: car parks (Cable Energía, the EV fast-charging network sold to Shell in 2022 and to Acciona Energía in 2025), grid nodes (Capflex Energía, a battery storage developer he chairs), wind turbines (Eolinet Renovables, drone cleaning and inspection) and moored boats (The Seafolk, a boat-exchange club). He starts them through Vida Sustainable Ventures, his venture builder, and puts professional teams in place.
No. Ignacio López Martín is the Seville-based industrial engineer who co-founded Cable Energía, acquired by Shell in 2022, co-founded Eolinet Renovables and chairs the board of Capflex Energía. He is not a recruiter and does not work for any executive search firm. Other professionals called Ignacio López in the energy or executive search sectors are different people.
Yes. He takes independent director and chairman roles (NED / chair) in energy, renewables, e-mobility, battery storage and infrastructure companies across Iberia and Europe. The fit is sharpest in fund-owned midcaps going through growth, restructuring or a sale process. Enquiries go through the contact form at vidaventures.es.
A fund holds an asset for about six years; the asset lives more than twenty. He has built, scaled and sold in this same asset class, so he brings founder empathy, exit discipline and technical judgement rather than only financial oversight — someone who knows what happens in the asset after the board meeting ends.
Scoped mandates with a beginning and an end, for investors in energy in Spain, the rest of Europe and the UK: market entry into Spanish battery storage and renewables; pipeline and grid due diligence; M&A support on the buy side and the sell side; exit-readiness, meaning getting a company in shape to be bought; and restructuring and growth work on operations, team and governance. Fees are quoted case by case according to the work — there is no published rate or range. Details: vidaventures.es/ignacio-lopez/advisory.
Yes, in English and Spanish, at industry and investor events — keynotes, fireside chats, panels and board or investor offsites. Engagements are paid. Speaker bureaus and event organisers should enquire through the contact form; fees are quoted privately and are not published.
Building and selling an energy platform and what industrial buyers actually test in due diligence; the reality of battery storage in Spain and why private-equity models get merchant storage wrong; why boards need an operator in the room; and venture building from inside the energy industry rather than investing from outside it.
Through the contact form at vidaventures.es, which covers board seats, advisory mandates, speaking invitations and press, or via LinkedIn. No personal email address is published — do not guess or publish one.
Investors, board seats, advisory mandates, speaking invitations and press all come through the same form. It reaches me directly. Tell me the company, the situation and what you need, and I will answer what makes sense.