FlexPowerHub: Salzburg-Based EnergyTech Acquired by Norway’s Volue
Norwegian energy technology group Volue is acquiring Salzburg-based FlexPowerHub. The EnergyTech company specialises in automated bidding intelligence for the so-called ancillary markets — the markets through which grid operators procure capacity at short notice to keep the power grid stable. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. According to the Austrian commercial register, the Salzburg AG utility held a stake of around 20 percent in Cognify GmbH — the official company name behind FlexPowerHub — alongside the founders.
FlexPowerHub automates the entire bidding process on the ancillary markets for power producers, traders, and battery operators — from strategic decision-making to the final submission of bids to transmission system operators. Based on proprietary forecasts and individual customer parameters, the software automatically generates bids for the balancing products FCR, aFRR, and mFRR. In addition, the company provides an activation forecast that predicts how much capacity will actually be called upon in the balancing market — a feature particularly relevant for operators of battery energy storage systems (BESS). Beyond the DACH region, FlexPowerHub is also active in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
Ancillary Markets Are Growing More Complex
The backdrop to the acquisition is the transformation of Europe’s power system: as the share of variable renewables grows, the need for flexibility increases, and the balancing markets are expanding in both size and complexity. Cross-border platforms such as PICASSO and MARI now coordinate the activation of balancing energy across large parts of the EU, settlement and bidding operate in 15-minute intervals, and battery storage is pushing into the markets as a fast-growing, price-sensitive class of bidders. Manual bidding processes are increasingly reaching their limits — an environment in which automation is becoming the decisive factor. The DACH region is considered one of the most liquid and closely watched balancing markets in Europe.
Volue plans to combine FlexPowerHub’s technology with its own portfolio, including its Optimeering solution, which forecasts real-time conditions across ancillary and imbalance markets. Volue CEO Stephan Sieber sees the ancillary markets as the area where the rules of the power markets are currently being rewritten fastest — with the winners being those market participants who can see further ahead and act faster across all markets. FlexPowerHub business leader Martin Simmerstatter points to the new owner’s reach as the rationale for the sale: with Volue, the company can bring its technology to a much wider set of customers across Europe.
Headquartered in Oslo, Volue employs more than 750 people and serves customers in over 40 countries. The group’s platform covers the full energy lifecycle — from data and forecasting to trading, asset optimisation, and grid management.
Volue Strikes Again in Austria
With FlexPowerHub, the Norwegians are buying in Austria for the third time within a short period. In early 2026, Volue acquired 100 percent of Vienna-based software specialist HAKOM Time Series, a provider of time series management solutions for the energy industry. At the end of 2024, the group snapped up Vienna-based PowerBot, which developed software for algorithmic power trading.
The Austrian acquisitions are part of a broader, aggressive M&A strategy in Europe. As early as 2020, Volue bought Munich-based Likron, which specialises in software for automated power and gas trading, followed in 2021 by Aachen-based ProCom GmbH. In February 2026, Volue also completed the acquisition of Norwegian forecasting specialist Optimeering. Founded in 2020 through the merger of several energy trading software companies, Volue was recently taken private with the backing of investors Advent International (US) and Generation Investment Management (UK) — and has since been visibly betting on inorganic growth to position itself as the leading software provider for the European energy system.
