Ignacio López Martín
Founder & Managing Partner, Vida Sustainable Ventures
Seville, Spain · English · Spanish
Industrial engineer. Based in Seville, operating in Spain and Portugal, with Europe as the market. I have built, scaled and sold in energy — and I now sit on boards of companies going through the phase I have already lived: growing, restructuring or selling.
A fund holds an asset for about six years. The asset lives more than twenty. Someone in that boardroom has to own the gap — and it is better owned by a chair who has built, scaled and sold in this same asset class than by one who has only seen the spreadsheet. Founder empathy, exit discipline and technical judgement. Boards do not need more slides; they need someone who knows what happens in the asset after the meeting ends.
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
Founder & CEO
Drone-based cleaning and inspection of wind turbine blades, founded with P.G.S. Wind O&M as it actually is: field work, weather windows and contracts with utility-scale wind owners. An operating business, not a pitch deck.
Today
Capflex Energía
Founder · Chairman of the board, in a personal capacity
Stand-alone and hybrid battery storage (BESS) development and engineering in Spain, for its own book and for third parties under development agreements. Pipeline of approximately 1.9 GW under permitting, of which around 1 GW sits on the transmission grid with posted guarantees. The team runs it; I chair the board. Real governance, in the technology that decides the next decade of the grid.
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
Independent director or chairman (NED / chair), Iberia and Europe. 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 energy operator 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 is Founder & CEO of Eolinet Renovables, chairman of the board of Capflex Energía in a personal capacity, and Founder & Managing Partner of Vida Sustainable Ventures.
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: M&A support on the buy side and the sell side in energy and infrastructure; 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.
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.
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 in the room — I answer what makes sense.