SEE CAO - Coordinated Auction Office in South East Europe

What SEE CAO - Coordinated Auction Office in South East Europe does

SEE CAO (Coordinated Auction Office in South East Europe) is a Montenegrin limited liability company incorporated in March 2014 as the legal successor of the 2012 Project Team Company. It performs explicit (and supports implicit) allocation of cross-border electricity transmission capacity between its shareholding Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and registered Service Users across South East Europe, conducting yearly, monthly, and daily coordinated auctions on borders including Croatia-BiH, BiH-Montenegro, Montenegro-Albania, Kosovo-North Macedonia, Greece-Türkiye, Italy-Montenegro, and Albania-Kosovo. The original 10 TSOs (ADMIE/IPTO, CGES, ELES, HEP OPS, KOSTT, MEPSO, NOS-BiH, OST, TEIAS, and initially Transelectrica) established the office; the current shareholder set comprises TEIAS, IPTO, HOPS, NOSBiH, CGES, OST, and KOSTT.

Its core product is the DAMAS Auction Tool, a web-based auction platform (with a complementary DAMAS Web Services API) that handles the full auction lifecycle — bidding gates, risk management, secondary market, nominations, accounting, invoicing, and settlement — and is accessible to registered participants at auctions.seecao.com. Supporting services include public Auction Data, an Implicit Allocation data feed, and an Export Tool for market participants. The platform was originally procured via tender (LOT 1 to Unicorn systems a.s.) in 2014 and upgraded in Q1 2021.

SEE CAO operates as a cooperative-style regional infrastructure entity rather than a venture-backed commercial company: it charges transaction-based auction fees to Service Users, requires participants to post bank guarantees or deposits, and is governed by its TSO shareholders under an Energy Community Treaty mandate aligned with EU Regulation (EC) 714/2009. It holds ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications, an ENTSO-E Energy Identification Code, and is led by Executive Director Filip Marković (appointed April 2024) with a small staff operating from Podgorica, Montenegro.

Name

SEE CAO - Coordinated Auction Office in South East Europe

Legal name

Coordinated Auction Office in South East Europe (SEE CAO)

Website

https://seecao.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SEE CAO is a Montenegrin cooperative auction office, owned by South East European TSOs, that runs coordinated yearly, monthly, and daily auctions of cross-border electricity transmission capacity via its DAMAS platform for registered traders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Electricity Transmission Capacity Allocation

NAICS

Electric Power Transmission, Control, and Distribution (22112), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210)

SIC

Electric Services (4911)

akta.pro primary industry

Auction Participation & Bidding Strategy (ISO/RTO FTR/CRR/TCC Auctions) (EUAGALAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

National & Regional TSOs (ISO/RTO/Grid Operators) (EUADAAAA), Auction & Primary Issuance Platforms (IPO/Follow-on/Bond Auctions) (FSAFANAI)

Keywords

• Cross-border capacity auctions
• Electricity transmission allocation
• Coordinated auction services
• Transmission capacity rights
• Energy market coordination

Headquarters

HQ city

Podgorica

HQ country

Montenegro

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Auction Fees: Revenue generated through explicit allocation auctions of cross-border transmission capacity rights. Service Users pay fees to participate in coordinated auctions managed by SEE CAO.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SEE CAO performs explicit allocation of cross-border electricity transmission capacities between its shareholding Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and Service Users through yearly, monthly, and daily coordinated auctions. The DAMAS Auction Tool platform supports the full auction process including risk management, secondary market operations, and accounting/invoicing across multiple bidding zone borders in South East Europe.

Product overview

SEE CAO operates as a coordinated auction office performing explicit allocation of cross-border electricity transmission capacity rights in South East Europe. The core product is the DAMAS Auction Tool, a web-based platform that supports yearly, monthly, and daily coordinated auctions across multiple borders between Transmission System Operators (TSOs). DAMAS handles the complete auction process including risk management, secondary market operations, and accounting/invoicing. Supporting services include Auction Data publications, Implicit Allocation services, and an Export Tool for data access. The DAMAS Web Services Interface provides programmatic API access for market participants to integrate auction operations into their own systems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DAMAS Auction Tool The primary web-based auction platform used by SEE CAO to perform coordinated explicit allocation of cross-border electricity transmission capacities. Supports yearly, monthly, and daily auctions with risk management, secondary market, and accounting functionalities. Used by registered auction participants across South East European bidding zone borders.
• Explicit Capacity Allocation Services Explicit allocation of cross-border transmission capacities between shareholding Transmission System Operators and Service Users, performed on yearly, monthly, and daily basis across multiple borders including Croatia-BiH, BiH-Montenegro, Albania-Montenegro, Greece-Turkey, Italy-Montenegro, and Kosovo-North Macedonia.
• Auction Data Publicly available auction results and data published by SEE CAO for all conducted auctions including yearly, monthly, and daily capacity allocation processes across SEE borders.
• Implicit Allocation Implicit allocation data and services provided by SEE CAO for cross-border electricity capacity coordination.
• Export Tool Data export tool allowing Service Users and market participants to download and export auction-related data and results.
• DAMAS Web Services Interface (API) Web services API enabling external parties to programmatically interact with the SEE CAO auction system for capacity allocation, nominations, and automated data exchange.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully performed coordinated auctions since November 2014
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered strategic expansion and core.

• GSE (Georgian State Electrosystem)strategic expansionStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2025Partnership with GSE and TEİAŞ to develop the first coordinated capacity allocation process on the Georgia–Türkiye (GE-TR) border through a Memorandum of Understanding.
• TEİAŞ (Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation)strategic expansionStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2025Partnership with GSE and TEİAŞ to develop the first coordinated capacity allocation process on the Georgia–Türkiye (GE-TR) border through a Memorandum of Understanding.
• Unicorn systems a.s. (Czech Republic)coreTechnology or Integration · 12 May 2014Selected as successful tenderer for LOT 1 - Auction platform (hardware and software). Provided the DAMAS auction platform for SEE CAO operations.
• TSO Shareholders (IPTO, CGES, ELES, HEP OPS, KOSTT, MEPSO, NOS-BiH, OST, TEIAS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 April 2014SEE CAO established by 7-10 South East European Transmission System Operators. Original 10 TSOs: ADMIE, CGES, ELES, HEP OPS, KOSTT, MEPSO, NOS-BiH, OST, TEIAS, Transelectrica. Current shareholders include TEIAS, IPTO, HOPS, NOSBIH, CGES, OST, and KOSTT.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• EPEX SPOT: European Power Exchange covering day-ahead and intraday electricity markets across most of Europe. A potential indirect competitor as SDAC coupling expands into SEE borders, but does not perform explicit cross-border capacity auctions like SEE CAO.
• Nord Pool: Operates power exchanges across Europe (day-ahead, intraday, ancillary services). Nord Pool is comparable in market infrastructure role but focuses on implicit exchange-based trading rather than the explicit transmission capacity auctions that define SEE CAO.
• ENTSO-E: European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity — the umbrella association for all European TSOs including SEE CAO's shareholders. ENTSO-E sets the broader framework and platforms (e.g., EIC coding) that SEE CAO operates within; not a direct competitor but a structural counterparty.

Others

• Energy Community Secretariat: Treaty-based institution enforcing EU energy acquis across SEE contracting parties. Not a peer but the regulatory/policy anchor that created and legitimized SEE CAO's mandate.
• Unicorn Systems: Czech technology vendor that built the DAMAS Auction Tool for SEE CAO under a 2014 tender. Comparator as a technology enabler/supplier rather than a market peer; illustrates the dependence on third-party platform providers.

Direct peers

• CAO (Central Allocation Office GmbH): CAO operates as a regional auction office for explicit capacity allocation on borders in the Germany-Luxembourg and Poland-Czech-Germany regions. Closest direct peer to SEE CAO in terms of service scope (explicit auctions, secondary market, settlement) and platform structure.
• Joint Auction Office (JAO): JAO is the largest European regional auction office, performing explicit allocation of long-term transmission capacity across multiple European regions. Highly comparable to SEE CAO in business model (yearly/monthly/daily auctions, Auction Rules, financial settlement), but operating at a much larger scale across multiple CCRs.

Regional players

• BSP Energy Exchange: Operates organized electricity markets in Southeastern Europe (Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia). Adjacent to SEE CAO in geographic focus and TSO relationships, but focused on implicit spot trading rather than explicit capacity allocation.
• OPCOM (Romanian Electricity and Gas Market Operator): Romanian power and gas market operator. Comparable as a SEE-region market infrastructure provider and historically related to SEE CAO via Transelectrica's prior participation; not a direct peer in explicit capacity allocation.
• CROPEX (Croatian Power Exchange): Operates day-ahead and intraday electricity markets in Croatia, sharing same TSO shareholder (HOPS) as SEE CAO. Adjacent regional exchange rather than a direct competitor in explicit capacity auctions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/coordinated-auction-office-in-south-east-europe

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SEE CAO - Coordinated Auction Office in South East Europe