Smart green dealflow: E-volo crowdfunding, Lock8, Yetu, Thermondo and Zim Plant Technology exit

5 startups that pitched at Ecosummit conferences in the past celebrate new funding rounds. Within 3 days, 9 hours and 52 minutes electric aviation pioneer E-volo raised €1.2M in a record-breaking crowdfunding event on Seedmatch. Just in time, the Karlsruhe-based cleantech startup managed the first unmanned flight with the prototype of their green Volocopter VC 200 (see video below). Ecosummit contributed €1K and joined a group of 750 fearless crowd investors that agree that this worldwide innovation is ready for take off. With the help of E-volo Seedmatch established firmly as Germany’s leading crowdfunding platform for startups having raised over €10M for 50 projects since August 2011.

ECO13 London Evolo Crowdfunding

Their bikes got stolen frequently at Oxford University. To take revenge, Franz Salzmann and his co-founder Daniel Zajarias-Fainsod developed Lock8, the world’s first sensor smart, GPS tracked and online bicycle lock. Berlin-based Christophe Maire (Atlantic Internet) is their business angel and recently they cashed a 7-digit figure from Horizons Ventures in Hong Kong and Otto Capital. On top of it, Lock8 ran a successful kickstarter campaign to aggregate pre-orders and safe cycling enthusiasts. The Lock8 app locates available bicycles and functions as the wireless key for the smart lock – all you need to build a global Airbnb for bicycles.

ECO13 London Franz Salzmann Lock8

Christopher Schlaeffer left Deutsche Telekom to found Yetu 2 years ago because he believes that smart home is the third wave of the consumer Internet. An open platform is badly needed that connects everything with open APIs. Smart home and building energy management are very interesting for construction companies and real estate developers. Hence, corporate VC Bilfinger with support of KfW injected a useful seven-digit investment into Yetu. Now the Berlin-based startup should be able to finish product development and start selling.

ECO13 Berlin Christopher Schlaeffer Yetu

The Energiewende (energy transformation) has to include heating. To disrupt the heating market with a smart online shop and an offline service delivery partner network, Thermondo was founded. The Berlin-based startup makes the purchase of a new heating system time and cost efficient for houseowners in Germany. IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft and Grey Corp think the startup is well positioned to innovate the distribution of heating systems and transferred an upper six-digit figure to Thermondo’s bank account. Now Philipp Pausder and his burning team will make sure that Viessmann, Vaillant, Buderus (Bosch) and Wolf get rich more quickly.

ECO13 Berlin Philipp Pausder Thermondo

Bringing smart green technologies to agriculture to save water is very important. Simon Rüger pitched Zim Plant Technology at Ecosummit Berlin 2011. Zim’s technology is able to understand the wellbeing of plants: they put the plant’s leaf between two sensors and measure its blood pressure, i.e. the water level within the leaf. If the level is too low, the sensors wirelessly communicate back to the application that controls the irrigation system. The Norwegian corporate Yara acquired Zim Plant Technology in November 2013 and the High-Tech Gründerfonds celebrated another cleantech exit. The amount is undisclosed but Simon told us that the deal was worthwhile as it is strategic for both parties.

ECO11 Berlin Simon Rueger Zim Plant Technology

Congrats to all of you – it’s time to celebrate.

Smart Green Dealflow


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