- 10
- February
2019
Smart green VCs you should know
There are many smart green VCs in Europe and the US that back startups in energy, mobility, buildings, cities, materials, food and circular economy to create impact as well as financial and strategic returns for their fund investors (LPs). In the VC food chain, early stage investors prefer to invest, at lower valuations and higher risk, in the Seed, Series A and Series B rounds of young startups working on product market fit and traction (users, customers, revenues). On the other hand, late stage VCs like shorter holding periods and time-to-exit and, consequently, advanced startups with more than €5M revenues, experienced management teams and fast growth. The existence of KPIs, ideally going up over time, makes the life of every investor easier. At the same time, the majority of corporates have adopted open innovation and corporate venturing strategies in order to invest in and do business with startups, too. The result are different and, in some cases competing, investment strategies and portfolios that startups should know before pitching. Let’s co-invest and build smart green unicorns made in Europe.
Read more- 14
- September
2014
Gina Domanig chats with Jan Michael Hess about being a smart green VC
Ecosummit TV: Gina Domanig is a pioneer of cleantech venture capital. She got started in 2000 after a tempting call from a headhunter. Since then, Zurich-based Emerald Technology Ventures raised 3 funds and has got €370M of assets under management. Gina likes being a smart green VC because it is a multi-dimensional job involving technology, finance, industrial applications, transactions and, most importantly, lots of smart and inspiring people. It is also a tough job because you have to be available all the time for your portfolio and LPs. Gina travels almost every week, spends 50% of her time with the portfolio companies and the rest with investors, dealflow and fund management. In today’s environment, VCs have to be very involved in securing the ongoing financing of a startup, helping them recruit the best team and making the connections with the relevant corporates who may become customers, partners or even acquirers when it’s time for an exit. Next to the startups, the real customers of the VC are the investors. The majority of Emerald’s LPs are corporates whose key motivation for fund investments is fostering open innovation. There is a lot to learn from Gina and we are grateful that she joined ECO14 Berlin.
Read more- 31
- July
2014
Peter van Gelderen presents Icos Capital and the art of collaborative corporate venturing
Ecosummit TV: Dutch smart green VC Peter van Gelderen presents Icos Capital and the art of collaborative corporate venturing at ECO13 London. Founded in 2006, Icos Capital has got €75M under management and manages a portfolio of 8 cleantech startups. One of the best performing portfolio companies is Greenclouds that aggregates idle IT resources in the cloud. Recently Icos exited Resteel and currently they are on the fundraising trail for their new cleantech fund. The Amsterdam-based VC is focused on the early stage and close cooperation with their LPs of which many are corporates with deep industry expertise and an open innovation strategy. In the past, Peter has learned that cleantech means complex markets that need industry expertise, the most promising startups often need massive support and many follow-on investments and corporate LPs bring technology insight and are able to validate market demand for the startups’ products. However, the relationship between a corporate LP and the VC only works if the corporation is willing to spend a lot of time with the portfolio companies while leaving the financial decisions to the fund manager.
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- 21
- November
2013
Henrik Olsen pitches Environmental Technologies Fund
Ecosummit TV: Henrik Olsen pitches Environmental Technologies Fund at ECO13 London and talks about how to build capital-efficient companies that have big environmental impact. Fuel is running out – we have limited resources. Consequently, everybody in the cleantech startup and investor community tries to make better use of these resources. In fact, capital is also a limited resource and that’s why we need to use it very productively. During the last years, the number of investments has grown but with smaller amounts of capital – a good proof that the whole industry is working on using money more efficiently.
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- 7
- October
2013
Fabienne Herlaut pitches Ecomobilité Ventures
Ecosummit TV: Fabienne Herlaut pitches Ecomobilité Ventures at ECO13 Berlin. The Paris-based multi-corporate VC is focused on investing in sustainable mobility startups in Europe. Ecomobilité Ventures is financed by French national railway operator SNCF, mobile telephone operator Orange and energy company Total. The €25M fund is invested in 3 startups: Move About, EZ‐Wheel (ECO13 London) and Ouicar. At the moment, Fabienne works on new investments into promising startups as well as expanding the financial muscle of Ecomobilité Ventures with the help of more corporate limited partners. We are proud to have Fabienne among our Ecosummit Advisors and look forward to meeting her again at ECO13 London next week.
Read more- 6
- October
2013
Robert Gallenberger and Matthias Vandepitte present Gimv
Ecosummit TV: Robert Gallenberger and Matthias Vandepitte present Gimv at ECO13 Berlin. The Brussels-based VC is a listed company with €1.8B of assets under management and 90 employees in 4 offices. Recently, Gimv reorganised into 4 investment platforms of which Smart Industries and Sustainable Cities are most relevant for startups active in cleantech and resource efficiency. Gimv supported Ecosummit Berlin 2013 as sponsor and not only looked for new dealflow but also showcased the portfolio company Govecs at the conference. McPhy Energy (ECO12 Berlin) and PE International are also part of the portfolio. Gimv prefers to invest in startups with a proven business model and revenues to help them expand into new markets inside and outside of Europe.
Read more- 13
- September
2013
Maximilian Erb presents the cleantech investment strategy of NRW Bank
Ecosummit TV: Maximilian Erb presents NRW Bank at ECO13 Berlin. The regional development bank of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) is pretty active in cleantech venture capital. Smart green startups in their direct portfolio inlude Direvo, Greenpocket, Evocatal and O-Flexx. The cool thing is that Max of NRW Bank met Holger of O-Flexx at ECO12 Berlin for the first time. This is a wonderful testimonial that the Ecosummit platform really works and matchmakes cleantech startups and VCs. We are proud of it. And we also appreciate the great work that NRW Bank is doing for Germany’s cleantech startups.
Read more- 27
- August
2013
Bernard Scherrer fosters open innovation at EDF and invites cleantech startups to work together
Ecosummit TV: Bernard Scherrer presents the open innovation strategy of EDF at ECO13 Berlin. The French utility has got 38 million customers and annual revenues of €65B. EDF embraces open innovation because they want to work with cleantech startups that have valuable solutions for their large customer base. For example, the Berlin-based EV charging startup Ubitricity is currently being tested in EDF’s R&D labs. Bernard’s open innovation team wants to foster entrepreneurship and promote lean startup principles inside EDF. In some cases, the cooperation may lead to an investment for which the corporate VC Electranova Capital and the French seed fund ATI (Amorçage Technologique Investissement) were created. It is encouraging to see the growing number of corporate VCs and open innovation units that are active in Europe and it is even better to start working with them.
Read more- 9
- August
2013
Torsten Wipiejewski pitches cleantech VC VNT Management from Finland
Ecosummit TV: Torsten Wipiejewski pitches VNT Management at ECO13 Berlin. The Finnish cleantech VC was founded in 2002 and raised 3 funds with a total of €157M under management. The European Investment Fund is one of the LPs that committed €25M to VNT’s Power Fund III. Their large portfolio of 16 cleantech startups is mainly focused on renewable energy and electrical systems. As all of the partners of VNT have got an industrial and engineering background, they prefer to invest in startups that they deeply understand and can really add value to. If you make cleantech hardware and deal with power electronics, VNT Management is for you. However, they sometimes make an exception, so don’t be shy to send over your investor presentation. Torsten and his partner Harri are very relaxed and look forward to getting to know the best cleantech startups in Europe.
Read more- 9
- August
2013
Smart green lean startup panel with Cleantech Invest, Savosolar, Wellington Partners, Icos Capital and Ben Energy
Ecosummit TV: Tarja Teppo (Cleantech Invest) moderates the smart green lean startup panel at ECO13 Berlin featuring Jari Varjotie (Savosolar), Bart Markus (Wellington Partners), Peter van Gelderen (Icos Capital) and Jan Marckhoff (Ben Energy). Given that most cleantech startups are capital- and time-intensive, we believe that the lean startup philosophy is the right medicine. Lean startup is all about resource efficient product development with fast iterations to achieve product market fit without wasting too much time and money. While lean startup works well for software startups, the question is whether it can also be applied to hardware startups. For the strategy discussion between the startup management and their VCs, lean startup also means to take smart make or buy decisions to maintain focus and, for example, outsource manufacturing or distribution to reduce CAPEX and OPEX. During an inspiring discussion, our panelists share their experience with being lean while being clean.
Read more- 30
- July
2013
Philipp Schroeder pitches Sonnenbatterie from Bavaria
Ecosummit TV: Philipp Schroeder pitches Sonnenbatterie at Ecosummit Berlin 2013. The German cleantech startup is actually called Prosol Invest Deutschland but the brand they are building is Sonnenbatterie. The smart green product they make and sell like hotcakes is the Tesla of residential energy storage. The solar battery is a smart storage solution with a built-in smart meter that you connect to your PV system and the Internet to actively manage your local energy production and consumption. By using a mobile app the homeowner may easily decide whether to feed-in or consume the homemade electricity. Sonnenbatterie is backed by eCapital and their sales curve has the shape that makes VCs very happy. Founded in 2010, Sonnenbatterie launched in 2011 and has already got €15M in their order book in 2013, with 6 more months to go. At ECO13 Berlin, Sonnenbatterie won Ecosummit Award Jury Bronze in recognition of their business potential and milestones reached. We expect a busy phone line with calls from late stage cleantech VCs trying to get in.
Read more- 22
- July
2013
Bart Markus checks the reality of cleantech venture capital
Ecosummit TV: At Ecosummit Berlin 2013, Bart Markus of Wellington Partners provides a very honest reality check of the cleantech venture capital industry. Cleantech investments have gone down, money sits very tight and it is equally difficult for startups and VCs alike to raise new capital. In fact, since 2012 Bart did not make any new investment but rather focused his money and time on his existing portfolio. Now Wellington thinks about whether they should focus on the Internet or raise a dedicated cleantech fund. Still, Bart is an optimist, loves cleantech hardware and sees light at the end of the tunnel. He recommends that startups limit the time and money needed until proof point, tap into other sources of capital and build relationships with potential acquirers early on. Watch Bart on Ecosummit TV to get the full story.
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- 19
- June
2013
Patric Gresko pitches the Corporate Innovation Platform of the European Investment Fund
Ecosummit TV: Patric Gresko pitches the European Investment Fund at ECO13 Berlin. The EIF is Europe’s leading fund-of-fund with €12B under management. Since 2006, they have invested in 9 cleantech funds managed by 8 fund managers, i.e. dedicated cleantech VC firms. Patric is the EIF’s resident Mr. Cleantech and wants to support more cleantech VCs in the future. As most players in the market, the EIF also rides the corporate wave acknowledging the increasing importance of large multinational companies for the success of cleantech startups. Consequently, the EIF set out to raise capital from corporates for their new Corporate Innovation Platform (CorIP). One of the 4 investment themes is sustainability for which 10 €10M tickets shall be raised from 10 corporates. The EIF then tops it up with another €50M. These €150M will be invested in the best cleantech VCs in Europe. If you are one of them, talk to Patric.
Read more- 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- 26
- March
2013
Peter van Gelderen pitches early stage cleantech VC Icos Capital from the Netherlands
Ecosummit TV: Peter van Gelderen is a Dutch piano-playing cleantech investor who pitches his VC firm Icos Capital at ECO12 Düsseldorf. Founded in 2006, Icos Capital has got €75M under management and a portfolio of 9 cleantech startups. Peter likes to point out that his firm is an early stage investor because this is where the fun is and smart green company builders are needed the most. To be successful as early stage Cleantech VC, close relationships with corporates are a key success factor. Peter is Ecosummit Advisor and currently raises a new fund to which he invites German corporates as new LPs. Whether you are a corporate or startup, go and find Peter to discuss the art of early stage cleantech investing and the benefits of working together.
Read more- 24
- March
2013
Tarja Teppo pitches Cleantech Invest from Finland
Ecosummit TV: Tarja Teppo pitches the Helsinki-based early stage VC Cleantech Invest. Their portfolio currently consists of 11 smart green startups including Savosolar, Enercomp, One1 and Swap.com. As home markets are rather small, Scandinavian cleantech startups go international very quickly and are very interested in foreign investors, partners and customers. Cleantech Invest is part of the Vigo Accelerator of the Finnish government which provides €1M grant money to early stage startups to leverage the VC investment. Tarja’s ambitious goal is to create a large evergreen cleantech fund by doing an IPO. We are proud to have Tarja as Ecosummit Advisor and look forward to promoting the best startups from the Nordics.
Read more- 14
- March
2013
Juergen Finke presents Evonik corporate venturing
Ecosummit TV: More and more corporates create their own venture capital business units to support external innovation that is relevant to their core business. One of the new kids on the block is Evonik, the German specialty chemistry group with €14.5B revenues and 33.500 employees in 2011. At Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012, Juergen Finke unveils the investment strategy of Evonik Corporate Venturing. Having started at the beginning of 2012, Evonik dedicated a €100M fund, made 3 fund investments (HTGF, Pangea and Emerald) to run up the learning curve and is working on their first direct startup investments. If your startup matches the strategy and expertise of one of Evonik’s business units, go and talk to Juergen. Smart green corporate venture capital may be your best choice.
Read more