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 environmental, 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 financing 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. Facing climate change, technology revolution and global competition, the majority of corporates have adopted corporate venturing and open innovation strategies in order to invest in and do business with startups. The result are different investment strategies and sometimes competing portfolios that startups should know before pitching. Let’s co-invest and meet at Ecosummit Berlin.

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.

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.

Mobility 2.0 – E-volo, Carzapp, Flinc and Innovative Mobility discuss how to build profitable startups

Ecosummit TV: First the bad news: after burning $850M in 6 years Better Place files for bankruptcy. That’s not what you call a lean startup. The electric mobility operator had to accept that car makers don’t support a global startup standard for switchable batteries. Now the good news: peer-to-peer ride sharing startup Lyft raises $60M for global expansion from Andreessen Horowitz. To fight off the professional taxi and limo driver lobby, Lyft drivers get donations rather than payments from their riders. But VCs love transactions whatever they are called, especially if they smell like Airbnb on the road. Here in Europe, we eat humble pie. At ECO12 Düsseldorf, Fabienne Herlaut (Ecomobilité Ventures) discusses profitability with Alexander Zosel (E-volo), Oliver Lünstedt (Carzapp), Klaus Dibbern (Flinc) and Thomas delos Santos (Innovative Mobility). Some inspiration from the US may help.

Fabienne Herlaut looks for promising ecomobility startups In Europe

Ecosummit TV: At Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012, Fabienne Herlaut, Managing Partner of Ecomobilité Ventures, presents her multi-corporate fund which is focused on investing in ecomobility startups in Europe. Ecomobilité Ventures is financed by French national railway operator SNCF, mobile telephone operator Orange and energy company Total. While the €25M fund is still young, it already invested in 3 sustainable mobility startups: Move About, EZ‐Wheel and Ouicar. Fabienne is looking for a fourth corporate investor from the automotive industry, preferably from Germany. At the same time, she is always interested in meeting fundable ecomobility startups that look for smart green investors with industry expertise.

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.

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.

Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 steigt am 14. und 15. November

Europas Cleantechszene trifft sich in der Langen Foundation. 15 Sponsoren sind dabei.

Pressemitteilung – Berlin, 24. Oktober 2012: Ecosummit ist das Smart Green Business Network für Startups, Investoren und Konzerne. Europas Cleantechszene trifft sich auf dem Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 am 14. und 15. November in der Langen Foundation. Auf der internationalen Konferenz geht es um wettbewerbsfähige Umwelttechnologien, ressourceneffiziente Geschäftsmodelle, erneuerbare Energien, nachhaltige Mobilität, Smart Green City, Venture Capital und Lean Cleantech Startup.

Fabienne Herlaut presents the corporate VC Ecomobilité Ventures

Ecosummit TV: Fabienne Herlaut is the Managing Partner of the French corporate VC Ecomobilité Ventures that has 4 very powerful limited partners: SNCF, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Total and Orange. Fabienne presents her new €30M fund at Ecosummit Berlin 2012 and shares her investment strategy into smart green startups working on new technology and business models for sustainable mobility. I strongly recommend that you talk to Fabienne if you are an ambitious ecomobility startup with an international strategy that wants to take advantage of the added value of this promising group of corporates.

ECO12 Update: Wirtschaftswoche, ClimatePartner, Startups, Speakers and Laing playing live

Ecosummit 2012, our third international Smart Green Business Conference for startups, VCs, corporates and utilities, makes fantastic progress: We confirmed 36 speakers, 15 sponsors, 18 partners, 45 jury members and 24 award nominees. New ECO12 Media Partner is the leading German business weekly Wirtschaftswoche. ClimatePartner sponsors our carbon offset to make ECO12 climate neutral. 5 startups are ECO12 Silver Sponsors and join our startup demo area. And we signed the Berlin-based electronic a capella band Laing to play live at the ECO12 Award party on 22 March. Many good reasons to buy your ticket or (re)consider sponsoring our Smart Green Business Network and Conference.