Icos Capital raises €50M IC Fund III from Akzo Nobel, Bühler, Wuppermann and City of Rotterdam

Corporates play an important role for startups and VCs and often combine direct and fund investments to get access to external innovation. After a 2-year fundraising journey that even included the bankruptcy of one LP, the Dutch VC Icos Capital announces today the first closing of its third fund Icos Capital Fund III at €50M. The fund investors comprise the City of Rotterdam and the corporates Akzo Nobel from the Netherlands, Bühler from Switzerland and Wuppermann from Germany. Peter van Gelderen, one of the 3 GPs managing the fund, describes their investment philosophy as collaborative corporate venturing and emphasizes the close cooperation with the 3 multinationals that don’t have inhouse corporate VC units. According to Peter, new corporate relationships take a lot of time and many meetings until the board makes an LP commitment in your VC fund.

Ecosummit accelerates smart green London on 11 October 2016 at CodeNode

We believe that startups need corporates and corporates need startups. Startups need corporates as development partners, customers, distribution channels and investors to make better products and grow faster. At the same time, corporates need startups to sell new products to their customer base and survive the global competition. By connecting the companies that should be connected, Ecosummit accelerates startups, investors and corporates with a focus on smart green energy, mobility and cities. Our unique conferences are a physical marketplace enabling personal meetings and long-term relationships in a relaxed and productive atmosphere. Our next Ecosummit takes place on 11 October 2016 at CodeNode in the City of London. The agenda features 37 startup pitches and the conference will be recorded for our YouTube channel Ecosummit TV. Check out our participants, get your tickets and join us. Let’s warm up with a few innovation stories that will be elaborated at ECO16 London.

Late stage startup panel featuring Grundgrün, Ludgate, Alexa Capital and Munich Venture Partners

Ecosummit TV: At ECO15 London, we did a very informative and lively panel about growing and fundraising for late stage startups. The experts on stage include Felix Grolman (Grundgrün), William Weil (Ludgate), Gerard Reid (Alexa Capital) and Martin Kröner (Munich Venture Partners). In the meantime, a lot has happened: Gerard raised $50M for Younicos from First Solar, Panasonic and Grupo ECOS. Bill left Ludgate and joined Greencoat Capital, the CVC of the Irish utility ESB. Felix sold the direct marketing business of Grundgrün to EnBW and Martin invested in Cobi while Kebony raised €19M from PMV, Investinor and existing shareholders. It turns out that fundraising for late stage startups takes a lot of time and needs to be done globally to attract the best strategic investors for the growth strategy of the startup. At the same time, late stage startups need to hire the best management team to manage their growth. In Europe, family offices and corporates increasingly play a leading role in late stage investing and helping European startups become global market leaders.

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.

Call for startups to pitch at Ecosummit London 2014 on 7-8 October

Our second Ecosummit London takes place on 7-8 October 2014 at the Crystal. As in the past, we want to feature a lot of smart green startups on stage as this is what VCs and corporates really want – meeting innovative startups in a cool location in a time and cost efficient way. During our new Ecosummit Startup Showcase we promote startups from Europe that have raised less than €1M venture capital. We give away at least 10 free 5-minute pitch slots to fundable startups. To apply for a free pitch please create and update your startup profile on Ecosummit Market and email us your investor presentation as soon as possible (see guideline below). We announce the winners on a first come, first serve basis. Check the ECO14 London speakers to find out which startups are part of the showcase. Startups that have raised more than €1M and need more money and publicity can secure their pitch slot by buying a startup pitch ticket for £500,00 + VAT. Please contact us if you are interested and we send you a startup ticket discount code.

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.

Ecosummit London 15-16 October 2013 – join our smart green city conference at the Crystal

Ecosummit TV: We want to live and work in a Smart Green City. And we like London. The smart green capital is an important cleantech hub, provides access to the UK market and serves as the bridge to America. Therefore, we are very proud to invite you to Ecosummit London 2013, our 6th cleantech conference for startups, investors and corporates. ECO13 London will be held on 15-16 October at the Crystal, the new urban sustainability headquarter of Siemens in the Docklands. Take a look at our short Ecosummit TV video and get ready for your cable car pitch. ECO13 London explores the city of the future and your company should be part of it.

Cleantech Forum Europe 2013 – interview with Richard Youngman about reimagining cleantech

Financing cleantech startups as well as cleantech funds is a tough game. Investors aren’t happy yet with their returns. Consequently, startups and VCs need to reassess their strategies and look for long-term investors with strategic interest such as corporates, family offices and governments. To find advice from industry insiders we look forward to joining the Cleantech Forum Europe in Bilbao taking place on 16-18 April 2013. Ecosummit supports the event and we interview Richard Youngman, Cleantech Group’s MD for Europe and Asia, to warm up for the conference and discuss the current market environment. Richard will also speak at Ecosummit Berlin 2013.

Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 happens on 14 and 15 November

Europe’s cleantech scene meets at the Langen Foundation. 15 sponsors are joining.

Press release – Berlin, 24 October 2012: Ecosummit is the Smart Green Business Network for startups, investors and corporates. Europe’s cleantech scene gathers at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 on 14 and 15 November at the Langen Foundation. The international conference focuses on competitive cleantech, resource efficient business models, renewable energy, sustainable mobility, smart green city, venture capital and Lean Cleantech Startup.

ECO12 Award Facebook Winners, Agenda, Participants and Tickets

18 days to go until Ecosummit 2012 takes place on 22-23 March. We are making good progress and have important news. We nominated 52 smart green startups from 9 countries for the ECO12 Award. Facebook voting was officially closed on 1 March 2012 and we are happy to announce the Ecosummit Award 2012 Facebook Winners: BlaBlaCar from France wins Gold with 4.595 votes, Carpooling.com from Germany wins Silver with 2.728 votes and MyCO2 from France wins Bronze with 634 votes. We are very impressed and want to thank everybody for voting. The Ecosummit Award 2012 Jury Winners sharing the prize money will be announced at the ECO12 Award Party on 22 March. The ECO12 agenda and participants are online and present many good reasons to get your ticket and join our Smart Green Innovation Festival in Berlin.

Invitation to Ecosummit 2012 on 22-23 March in Berlin

It is our pleasure to invite you to Ecosummit 2012. ECO12 is our third international Smart Green Business Conference and takes place on 22-23 March 2012 in the beautiful Radialsystem in Berlin. We bring together startups, VCs, corporates and utilities fostering cleantech, renewable energy, emobility, smart green city and sustainability. We expect 400 participants and have already confirmed 26 speakers, 10 sponsors, 15 partners, 45 jury members and 17 award nominees. The next 2.5 months are going to be super exciting and you should join us in Berlin for our annual climax – ECO12.

Ecosummit Lounge Berlin 6 December 2011

Ecosummit and InnoZ, Berlin’s exciting epicentre for electric mobility and smart green city, joined forces to invite you to a high-voltage evening of intense Smart Green Business Networking. Our second Ecosummit Lounge Berlin takes place on 6 December 2011 and is co-hosted by InnoZ’s Intelligent City Salon. From 18:00-23:00, we will enjoy 5 smart green startup pitches, Ursprung, finger food and all that Jazz. The Ecosummit Lounge is free – our Santa Claus present – but invitation-only. Please ping us to request your personal invitation code.

ECO12 Award and Investor Pitch – Call for Smart Green Startups

Ecosummit 2012 (ECO12) takes place on 22-23 March 2012 in Berlin in the beautiful Radialsystem, the perfect location for networking, accelerating new deals and enjoying the smart green capital of Europe. ECO12 brings together startups, VCs, corporates and utilities and fosters cleantech, renewable energy, emobility, smart green city and sustainability. ECO12 expects 400 participants and offers promising startups two extraordinary opportunities to win fame and fortune in our ecosystem. All startups are invited to apply for our ECO12 Award while those fund raising in 2012 can also apply for an investor pitch.

Reviewing Ecosummit Lounge on 21 September 2011 in Berlin

Our new Ecosummit TV episode reviews our first Ecosummit Lounge we celebrated on 21 September 2011 at the HomeBase Lounge in Berlin. Featuring: Kai Lorenz (BT Germany), Pieter Bots (Geo-En), Jörg Fabri (allocate), Eric Mahleb (LGMi) and Jan Michael Hess (Ecosummit). Next to a few short pitches of sponsors and startups, we talked about ECO12 and the new ECO12 Award. As you can see, we had a wonderful time and want to say thanks to all participants for coming. The next Ecosummit Lounge takes place on 6 December 2011 in Berlin.

Ecosummit 2012 celebrates Smart Green Business with new Award

Press Release: For the third time, Mobile Economy GmbH organises Ecosummit, the international smart green business conference. Ecosummit 2012 (ECO12) takes place on 22-23 March in Berlin and gathers 400 executives representing investors, startups, corporates and utilities. ECO12 focuses on cleantech, renewable energy, electric mobility, smart green city, startup financing and sustainability management. The new ECO12 Award rewards the best smart green companies in Europe.