- 2
- December
2014
Sonnenbatterie raises €7.5M Series B from Munich Venture Partners, Chrysalix SET and Ecapital
Sonnenbatterie raises €7.5M in their Series B financing round from the co-investors Munich Venture Partners, Chrysalix SET and Ecapital. The Bavarian startup sold over 4.000 smart energy storage systems and is one of the fastest growing smart green startups in Germany. We like Sonnenbatterie since their first pitch at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. In January 2013, Ecapital invested €3M in the Series A. At ECO13 Berlin, Sonnenbatterie won Ecosummit Award 2013 Bronze and Philipp Schröder, now at Tesla, performed a great pitch. Sonnenbatterie also joined our first Ecosummit London 2013. In March 2014, we co-hosted our first Ecosummit Advisor Workshop in the energy village Wildpoldsried. Among our advisors were Martin Kröner (MVP) and Rene Savelsberg (Chrysalix SET) and, as you can see, they went home more impressed than ever before. At ECO14 Berlin, Sonnenbatterie won Ecosummit Award 2014 Gold and Benjamin Schott jumped on stage. At ECO14 London, Christoph Ostermann pitched again after we enjoyed an incredible sponsor dinner at Home House and then got lost in London’s taxi underground. Now it is time to celebrate before doubling annual production and revenues in the years to come. Long live Sonnenbatterie and very big the exit shall be.
Read more- 4
- August
2014
Richard van de Vrie pitches Luxexcel and its 3D optics printing technology
Ecosummit TV: Richard van de Vrie pitches Luxexcel at ECO13 London. The resource efficient Dutch startup invented a new 3D printing technology for optics and lenses that reduces the development time and cost of new LED lights and other optical products. Now it is possible to develop new luminaires in days rather than months, a significant cost reduction potential for LED manufacturers that typically develop 75 products per year. Luxexcel is backed by Chrysalix SET in Amsterdam and Munich Venture Partners, patented its printoptical technology and has got revenues. It will be exciting to watch this company grow and take its limitless 3D printing technology to new markets and industries.
Read more- 18
- May
2014
Laurits Bach Sorensen pitches Microshade
Ecosummit TV: Laurits Bach Sorensen pitches Microshade at ECO13 London. Microshade’s solar shading technology is integrated into glass facades and roof structures and significantly reduces the energy used for cooling and ventilation. Thus it reduces the OPEX of the building and enables an attractive ROI. The Danish startup was founded in 2003, has got 10 employees, is backed by Chrysalix SET and recently did a strategy pivot by focusing on the retrofit market as well as large commercial buildings with a lot of glazing surfaces. Now Laurits wants to raise $2.5M to accelerate growth and prove the superior economics of their solar shading solution on a large scale.
Read more- 16
- February
2014
Mads Jensen pitches Sefaira
Ecosummit TV: Mads Jensen pitches Sefaira at ECO13 London. Buildings are complex systems which integrate many interdependent smart green technologies including building materials, orientation, air ventilation, glazing, insulation, shading, heating, cooling and lighting. To optimise this system Sefaira makes software for high performance building design and enables architects to analyse their designs until they are perfect in terms of energy footprint and cost of operations. Founded in 2009, the UK-US startup launched in 2012 and convinced over 200 architecture firms to use the software in their building design process. Sefaira raised €13M ($18M) from Chrysalix SET, Braemar Energy Ventures and Hermes GPE and won the Ecosummit Award 2013 Gold medal. We like the way Sefaira fosters smart green cities and are happy that Mads joined our Ecosummit Advisors.
Read more- 15
- December
2013
Rene Savelsberg pitches the investment strategy of Chrysalix SET
Ecosummit TV: Rene Savelsberg pitches the investment strategy of Chrysalix SET at ECO13 London. The Amsterdam-based smart green VC was founded in 2007 and invests in technology companies that are in the early growth stage and have a sustainable impact on the future use of energy. As their first SET Fund I of €40M is fully allocated, Rene and his general partners (GPs) are raising their second SET Fund II targeting €100M. This fund size enables a larger portfolio and management team as well as investing more capital per startup in multiple follow-on rounds without dilution. VCs typically want to increase rather than decrease their position in the best performing startups in their portfolio.
Read more- 30
- October
2013
Jan Michael Hess opens Ecosummit London 2013
Ecosummit TV: Jan Michael Hess opens Ecosummit London 2013. Our 6th cleantech conference took place on 15-16 October at the Crystal, the urban sustainability HQ of Siemens in the Docklands. 150 participants came together to discuss smart green cities and to pitch new solutions and investment opportunities. The Crystal is the perfect location for Ecosummit London. Moreover, the LEED Platinum building is a role model for other corporates that want to co-invent the urban future and invest in a long-term technology showcase and marketing tool. Our highlight was the Ecomobilité Ventures Flinc deal announced at ECO13 London. After the NRW Bank O-Flexx investment, this is already the second deal facilitated by Ecosummit.
Read more- 13
- July
2013
Rene Savelsberg pitches cleantech VC Chrysalix SET from Amsterdam
Ecosummit TV: Rene Savelsberg pitches Chrysalix SET at ECO13 Berlin. Rene believes that the investment focus on technologies with capital-efficient business models as well as their global expertise are the key success factors to achieve returns in the big cleantech universe. The Dutch VC is one of the few players that managed to successfully exit a portfolio company. They sold Epyon to ABB in 2011 which became the new EV fast charging business unit of the Swiss corporate. Chrysalix SET’s active portfolio includes Enocean, Alertme, Sefaira and the new investment Luxexcel, a 3D printing technology company focused on the LED industry. We are happy that Rene joined our Ecosummit Advisors and look forward to accelerating the best startups in the market.
Read more- 6
- June
2013
Sefaira, Tado, Solarbattery, Pirika, Bravo Motors and Oricane win Ecosummit Award 2013
Ecosummit Berlin 2013 was a blast. “The best event out there,” says Rene Savelsberg of Chrysalix SET. Rene was also very happy when he went on stage to receive the Ecosummit Award 2013 Jury Gold medal (€3K prize money) for his portfolio company Sefaira. The fast growing cleantech startup from UK/US convinced our 33 jury members with their smart green building software. Jury Silver (€2K prize money) went to Tado from Germany and their impressive smart green heating control and Jury Bronze (€1K prize money) was awarded to Sonnenbatterie from Germany for their successful residential energy storage solution.
Read more- 11
- December
2012
Laurent Giai-Miniet pitches EnOcean
Ecosummit TV: Laurent Giai-Miniet pitches the late stage cleantech startup EnOcean at ECO12 Berlin. EnOcean provides wireless energy harvesting technology for smart green buildings and has become the de facto standard for batteryless building and home automation. Sensors and switches powered by EnOcean modules are used to control the lighting, heating and cooling of rooms depending on room occupancy and other variables such as open or closed windows. EnOcean’s investors include Wellington, Emerald, Chrysalix SET and Siemens. If you are planning a new or retrofit smart green building, EnOcean is the right choice.
Read more- 21
- June
2012
Peter Krebs pitches the green building software startup Sefaira
Ecosummit TV: Peter Krebs, Co-Founder and CTO of Sefaira, presents the UK-US startup at Ecosummit Berlin. Sefaira provides a web platform for the design, construction and retrofit of sustainable and energy efficient buildings. The startup was founded in 2009 and recently raised €8.5M ($10.8M) from Braemar Energy Ventures, Chrysalix SET and Hermes GPE. Green architecture is a big trend which is also accelerated by new laws. In the UK, by 2016, all new homes and commercial buildings must have a net zero carbon footprint in order to receive construction permission.
Read more- 20
- April
2012
Cleantech Inside Is The Future – Reporting From Cleantech Forum Europe 2012
“Cleantech inside is the future,” forecasts Sheeraz Haji, CEO of the Cleantech Group. I totally agree with Sheeraz and like to call it: sustainable by default. The next wave is pervasive cleantech and ubiquitous sustainability management that will be adopted by every company in every sector. Of course, it will take time to make it real but the good news is that there are many smart green investors, startups and corporates working on it. This was obvious at the fantastic Cleantech Forum Europe 2012 which Sheeraz and his team organised this week in Munich. Before I share some of the general challenges VCs and startups are facing, let me brief you on the strategy of the Cleantech Group.
Read more- 11
- April
2012
Smart Green Dealflow: Sefaira, Geo-En, Tado and WeSustain
Let’s toast to 4 smart green startups that successfully closed new funding rounds during the last months. Sefaira, Geo-En, Tado and WeSustain have all been on our Ecosummit stage and are active members of our Smart Green Business Network. Sefaira, Tado and WeSustain were also nominated for the Ecosummit Award 2012. Braemar Energy Ventures leads Sefaira’s €8.2M round with co-investors Chrysalix SET and Hermes GPE. eCapital and IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft invest €4M in Berlin-based Geo-En. Target Partners seed finances Tado while NBank, MBG, KfW and High-Tech Gründerfonds back WeSustain. Let’s take a closer look at the startups and some of their new investors.
Read more