- 20
- May
2013
Smart green dealflow: Ubitricity, Saperatec, Skeleton, Waste2Chemical, O-Flexx and Romo Wind
Financing cleantech startups is a tough game these days. You need a strong team, product market fit and, even better, customers and revenues. In this difficult market environment, it is a great pleasure to report that 6 smart green startups managed to raise new venture capital: Ubitricity (around €3.5M, Germany), Saperatec (€3.3M, Germany), Skeleton (€2.2M, Estonia), Waste2Chemical (undisclosed, Netherlands), O-Flexx (€2.4M, Germany) and Romo Wind (€4.8M, Switzerland). The active cleantech VCs include Earlybird, IBB, NRW Bank, HTGF, eCapital, Dutch Greentech Fund, Emerald, Yellow&Blue, ABB and b-to-v. Let’s take a closer look at the startups and their new investors.
Read more- 18
- May
2013
Cleanweb startups from Berlin – meeting Ecotastic and FutureWatt at CeBIT Code_n 2013
Ecosummit TV: Our mobile Ecosummit TV studio stops again at CeBIT Code_n 2013 for more smart green startup interviews. This time, Jan interviews the Berlin-based founders Anna Yukiko Bickenbach of Ecotastic and Philipp Pausder of FutureWatt. Ecotastic is a new green marketing service provider that runs a reward system to foster green consumer behaviour. Consumers document their green actions with their smartphone and are rewarded with gift certificates from partner companies.
Read more- 10
- May
2013
Martin Riedel pitches the small wind startup Enbreeze
Ecosummit TV: Decentralised local energy production is a key trend in the Energiewende. While small PV systems are already widespread, small wind is a new market with large potential growing at 30% CAGR. The advantage of small wind is that the wind also blows during the night and on cloudy days. At ECO12 Düsseldorf, Martin Riedel pitches the German early stage cleantech startup Enbreeze that develops small wind turbines.
Read more- 9
- May
2013
Guido Luetsch pitches NTS and its high-altitude wind technology
Ecosummit TV: “Fish don’t need electricity,” says Aloys Wobben of Enercon. While offshore there is more wind, there is also less demand. As Guido Luetsch explains in his pitch, the German startup NTS tackles this problem by going to an altitude of 500m onshore in order to harvest stronger winds. NTS has got a running prototype in which high-altitude kites are steered by robots sitting on a straight track system on the ground. NTS is backed by 3M and wants to raise €5M from new investors for the closed loop pilot system. Moreover, NTS is partner of Autodesk’s cleantech programme using their software to design the steering robots and track system.
Read more- 28
- April
2013
Florian Meyer-Delpho pitches solar e-commerce startup Greenergetic
Ecosummit TV: Florian Meyer-Delpho pitches Greenergetic at ECO12 Düsseldorf and believes that the market is ready for their solar e-commerce business model thanks to grid parity. Greenergetic develops an online portal to bring PV and smart home solutions directly to residential end customers. Houseowners can plan, finance and order their preferred PV system online. The Bielefeld-based cleantech startup also offers a whitelabel solution for utilities that are increasingly interested in selling solar systems to their customer base. Backed by eCapital and following the role model of Solarcity, Greenergetic is about to launch their new portal very soon.
Read more- 24
- April
2013
Philipp Pausder pitches FutureWatt
Ecosummit TV: The Energiewende is not only about electricity but also about heat. Philipp Pausder pitches the Berlin-based startup FutureWatt at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. For business customers, FutureWatt controls the design, the financing and the operation of distributed energy systems with the aim of significantly reducing the energy bill. In December 2012, Philipp and his team launched the B2C Internet platform called heizkosten-senken.de which helps consumers reduce their heating costs.
Read more- 3
- April
2013
Cleantech crowdfunding rocks – meeting Carzapp and Seedmatch at CeBIT Code_n 2013
Ecosummit TV: P2P car sharing meets crowdfunding at CeBIT Code_n 2013. Jan Michael Hess interviews Oliver Lünstedt of Carzapp and Jakob Carstens of Seedmatch to learn more about Carzapp’s recent cleantech crowdfunding round and enjoy a magic ZappKit demo. Carzapp raised €250K within 3 weeks from 350 investors on Seedmatch, Germany’s crowdfunding pioneer. At Code_n13, Carzapp won a useful award sponsored by Continental who invites Carzapp to join their big booth at IAA 2013. Since September 2011, Seedmatch raised more than €4.5M for 36 startups from more than 3.000 investors. Cleantech crowdfunding rocks!
Read more- 15
- March
2013
Martin Mohr pitches the algae startup Ecoduna from Austria
Ecosummit TV: Martin Mohr passionately pitches the Austrian algae startup Ecoduna at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. Founded in 2009, Ecoduna is one of the cleantech startups pioneering the algae business in Europe. Their ultimate goal is price competitive algae-based biofuel which they plan to reach within 5 to 8 years. Until then, the pharmaceutical industry is a potential buyer of algae products. Vattenfall in Germany is one of Ecoduna’s pilot customers. The Austrian startup received €2M public funding and patiently looks for €5M to €10M venture capital from strategic investors.
Read more- 6
- March
2013
Cleantech crowdfunding in Germany – invest in Carzapp and Changers now
While many cleantech VCs are holding back their money when early stage startups knock on their door, crowdfunding is another financing solution with added marketing value. In fact, cleantech crowdfunding is happening today in Germany. Starting at 14:30 and going on until the funding limit is reached, German residents can invest in p2p car sharing made by Carzapp and social solar device charging made by Changers. Both Carzapp and Changers want to raise €250K selling 10% of their smart green startup with the help of a profit participating loan (partiarisches Nachrangdarlehen) managed by Seedmatch, Germany’s crowdfunding pioneer. Update: Within 3 weeks Carzapp raised €250K from 350 investors including us and successfully closed this crowdfunding round. Cleantech crowdfunding rocks!
Read more- 6
- March
2013
Alexander Zosel pitches electric helicopter startup E-volo
Ecosummit TV: Alexander Zosel pitches E-volo at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. The German startup develops a new type of electric helicopter called Volocopter. While in the US you don’t need a special license to fly the 1-seater Volocopter, the German aviation authority plans to create a new class of aircraft specifically for the Volocopter. Personal electric aviation will be a totally new market and E-volo is a worldwide aviation pioneer. They celebrated the first manned flight with a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft on 21 October 2011. Backed by the 4 founders and a €2M grant from the German government, E-volo looks for adventurous VCs in Europe and the US.
Read more- 3
- March
2013
Ecosummit Lounge London 2 May 2013
Ecosummit and Taylor Wessing, the international law firm with extensive cleantech and private equity experience, co-host the second Ecosummit Lounge London on 2 May 2013 at Taylor Wessing’s magnificent office. We will enjoy an inspiring evening of smart green business networking with a group of local and international cleantech startups, investors and corporates. Rob Wylie, Partner at WHEB Partners, gives a keynote on the current state of cleantech venture capital, followed by startup pitches of the 3 ECO13 Award Nominees Ubitricity, Tado and Loowatt. Tickets are available for £30,00. Thanks a lot to Simon Walker and his team for hosting us and sharing the super cool roof terrace.
Read more- 28
- February
2013
Markus Becker pitches sustainability software startup EcoIntense
Ecosummit TV: Markus Becker pitches EcoIntense at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. The Berlin-based smart green startup develops sophisticated software for health, security and environmental management (HSE). EcoIntense was founded in 2007, has got 35 employees, doubled its revenues 2 years in a row and now enjoys profitability. EcoIntense’s customer list is really impressive and features Siemens that uses EcoWebDesk in 3 of their 4 business units. Having reached so many milestones, Markus is interested in talking to late stage financial or corporate VCs that can add strategic value.
Read more- 26
- February
2013
Paul Cousens of Autodesk talks about designing better cleantech products
Ecosummit TV: “We are all trying to help promising clean technology get to market faster,” says Paul Cousens, Global Cleantech Business Development Manager at Autodesk, at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. Most of the innovation happens at the early stage level, but early stage startups typically don’t have a lot of money. That’s why Autodesk started their Cleantech Partner Programme that provides free product design software to startups with a value of up to €120K. In his talk, Paul discusses how design technology drives clean technology innovation. “Make all your mistakes in pixels instead of atoms,” sums it up best.
Read more- 17
- February
2013
Oliver Luenstedt pitches p2p car sharing startup Carzapp
Ecosummit TV: Oliver Lünstedt, CEO of Carzapp, pitches the German p2p car sharing startup. While there are already 3 peer-2-peer car sharing startups in Germany, Carzapp is the first one to have developed their own hardware solution called ZappKit. The ZappKit enables wireless car access with smartphones used as digital keys. The magic hardware box also includes GPS and an immobiliser that prevents theft. Moreover, the Berlin-based startup has an idea for the cost-efficient rollout of electric cars and participates in the electric mobility showcase Berlin-Brandenburg by adapting their platform to support p2p electric car sharing. Carzapp is backed by angels and looks for €1M to enter the German market in the first half of 2013.
Read more- 16
- February
2013
Thomas delos Santos pitches the electric microcar Colibri
Ecosummit TV: Not many people have the guts to found an electric vehicle startup these days. Thomas delos Santos, CEO of Innovative Mobility, is one of them. His pitch at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 provides the full story behind the electric microcar called Colibri. The Colibri will be unveiled at the auto show in Geneva in March 2013. The light electric vehicle (LEV) for city dwellers will cost €8.9K plus monthly battery leasing costs of €55. Colibri shall hit the market in 2015 and can be pre-ordered in 2014 – provided that Thomas manages to raise the rather large funds needed for series development and production. We cross our fingers as we want to see the smart green Colibri on the street.
Read more- 3
- February
2013
Smart green dealflow: Sunfire, Greenergetic, Sonnenbatterie, LEDeXCHANGE, Valopaa and Friedola Tech
6 smart green startups successfully raised new venture capital recently: Power to gas and fuel startup Sunfire (seven-figure, Germany), PV online retailer Greenergetic (undisclosed seed, Germany), residential storage provider Sonnenbatterie (undisclosed, Germany), retrofit LED provider LEDeXCHANGE (€500K seed, Germany), LED lighting company Valopaa (€2M, Finland) and recycled plastics manufacturer Friedola Tech (€31M, Germany). The active cleantech VCs include Bilfinger Venture Capital, eCapital, High-Tech Gründerfonds, VNT Management, Silver Lake Kraftwerk and Kleiner Perkins.
Read more- 18
- December
2012
Robert Schwemmer pitches Naporo, the cattail startup from Austria
Ecosummit TV: CTO Robert Schwemmer pitches the Austrian startup Naporo at ECO12 Berlin. Naporo’s product is the plant cattail which can be used as sustainable building material. Naporo’s technology processes the cattail biomass into non-woven fabrics that are sold as thermal building insulation and as a pre-product for the furniture and automotive industry. Naporo was founded in 2009, incubated at Tech2b and is backed by 3M. Now Naporo wants to raise €2.5M to set up inhouse production to reduce production costs by 40%. According to Robert, cattail is the new hemp and represents a global business opportunity.
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- 5
- November
2012
Smarter, greener, leaner – startups accelerate the Energiewende at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012
9 days to go until ECO12 Düsseldorf. The perfect moment to do some serious pattern recognition and talk about the cleantech startups to be featured on stage – and Ecosummit TV. Our second conference this year enjoys again a very high startup density: 26 startups present new solutions for accelerating the Energiewende (energy transformation). The Internet of things and cleantech grow together. More and more green startups develop smart hardware products that have an IP address. The startups pitching at Ecosummit control cars, helicopters, charging stations, PV systems, wind generators, batteries, street lights, homes and even entire cities over the Internet. Smarter, greener, leaner – that’s the way we want them.
Read more- 18
- October
2012
Klaus Dibbern pitches Flinc – Europe’s hottest ride sharing startup
Ecosummit TV: Klaus Dibbern pitches Flinc, the famous realtime ride sharing startup. Flinc is integrated with several navigation systems and supports iPhone and Android. The German cleantech startup has got over 100.000 users and goes international now. They have a B2B and B2C business model based on transaction fees, subscriptions and affiliate marketing. We believe Flinc is one of the hottest sustainable social mobility startups in Europe.
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