Inven invests in Cloud&Heat and Eneco invests in Next Kraftwerke
2 European corporate VCs announce their new investments today at Ecosummit Berlin 2017 proving that German smart green startups are innovative, competitive and very attractive investment opportunities. Inven Capital, funded by the Czech utility CEZ, met Cloud&Heat one year ago at Ecosummit and today invests in the Dresden-based early stage startup. Founded in 2011, Cloud&Heat provides energy efficient data centres that use server heat for hot water and heating in commercial buildings, reducing operating costs of data centres by 50%. The Dutch utility Eneco invests in Next Kraftwerke and acquires a large minority interest of 34%. Founded in 2009, the Cologne-based late stage startup operates a large Virtual Power Plant (VPP) across 8 countries in Europe with 2.8 GW of renewable energy capacity under management. After acquiring 50% of Lichtblick in January 2017, this is the second major smart green energy investment of Eneco in Germany.
Read moreClimate-KIC showcases Coolar, Prosumergy, MotionTag, Pendula and Orkess at ECO16 Berlin
Ecosummit TV: Malte Schneider presents the Climate-KIC startup showcase at ECO16 Berlin. Since 2012, Climate-KIC Germany partners with Ecosummit and, since 2013, they showcase 5 startups each year that are currently supported by the Climate-KIC Accelerator, Europe’s largest cleantech accelerator. In 2016, Coolar, Prosumergy, MotionTag, Pendula and Orkess went on stage to deliver high-quality pitches and their Ecosummit TV videos are embedded below. Over the years, Climate-KIC has become a very important smart green dealflow source for angels and early stage investors. Congrats to the Climate-KIC team for the great work they do to foster smart green startups in Europe.
Read moreKiwigrid, Mobisol, Kebony, Lumenaza, BEN Energy and Electrochaea win Ecosummit Award 2016 in Berlin
Ecosummit TV: Ecosummit’s mission is to accelerate smart green startups, investors and corporates with our events and Ecosummit TV. In fact, we accelerated our video production, too, and already uploaded 20 videos mixed live at ECO16 Berlin to YouTube. Last week, 250 happy participants temporarily populated the Radialsystem and enjoyed an amazing conference that was packed with lots of business and investment opportunities. In the evening of the first conference day, 26 April 2016, we announced the 6 new winners of the Ecosummit Award 2016. 58 nominees from 13 countries created public startup profiles on Ecosummit Market and were judged by 43 judges during the online voting before the conference. The 3 ECO16 Award winners in the late stage startup category (> €2M revenues 2015) are: Kiwigrid winning Gold and €1.5K prize money, Mobisol receiving Silver and €1K and Kebony scoring Bronze and €500. The 3 ECO16 Award winners in the early stage startup category (< €2M revenues 2015) are: Lumenaza winning Gold and €1.5K prize money, BEN Energy earning Silver and €1K and Electrochaea collecting Bronze and €500. Congrats to all the winners for convincing our judges that your smart green startup rocks.
Read moreInven Capital announces €20M investment in Tado at Ecosummit Berlin 2016
Ecosummit TV: Our smart green innovation community is making deals and sharing breaking news at Ecosummit. During their ECO16 Berlin presentation, Petr Mikovec and his Inven Capital team announce their €20M investment in Tado, one of the fastest-growing smart green startups in Germany. The Munich-based late stage startup provides climate control services to households by controlling heating and air conditioning systems. Tado was founded in 2011, pitched at Ecosummit Berlin 2012 for the first time and grew their team to 100 employees. Inven originally contacted Tado in 2015 and wanted to join the last round but it was too late. Eager to get into the deal, Inven today invests alone at a higher valuation than Tado’s last financing round of €15.2M in October 2015. The existing shareholders Siemens Venture Capital, Statkraft Ventures, Target Partners, Shortcut Ventures and BayBG did not participate again and accepted dilution. Christian Deilmann, CEO of Tado, comments: “We currently have a lot of traction growing at 400% annually in 12 European markets, USA and Singapore. Although we are well-funded thanks to our last round in autumn 2015, Inven Capital presented a great opportunity to strengthen our position in Central and Southeastern Europe and further accelerate our growth and innovation leadership. Our goal is an IPO in a couple of years.”
Read moreSkeleton Technologies, Solarkiosk and Grundgrün win ECO15 London Award
Ecosummit London 2015 was our third conference at the Crystal and it turned out to be our best conference so far in the smart green capital. 160 happy and relaxed participants came together on 6-7 October 2015 to enjoy 46 startup pitches from all over Europe and celebrate smart green innovation. Our panel about fostering the cooperation between impact investors and VCs to tap into new sources of capital for smart green startups received a lot of applause – as did the panels about early stage, late stage and corporate venturing. To further grow next year we are moving Ecosummit London 2016 to CodeNode in the heart of Tech City and concentrate the action on 11 October 2016. Moreover, we announced Ecosummit Berlin 2016 on 26-27 April 2016 at the Radialsystem and Ecosummit Amsterdam 2016 on 7 July 2016 at Rockstart. During our high-speed ECO15 London Award ceremony on 6 October 2015 we announced the 3 winners Skeleton Technologies, Solarkiosk and Grundgrün.
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