- 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- 21
- July
2013
Prof. Eicke Weber is very optimistic about the solar industry
Ecosummit TV: Prof. Eicke Weber, Director of Fraunhofer ISE, is very optimistic about the future of the solar industry. Firstly, the PV cost curve is going down continuously. Even in Germany with Alaska-type sunshine, we can produce electricity with silicon-based PV for 10-12 cents/kWh. At this cost level, grid parity is already outperformed since 1 kWh costs 22 cents (net) in Germany if you buy it from your local utility. Making your own electricity and storing it in a solar battery is a smart economic idea. Secondly, the global solar market will grow 10 times from 30 GW/year in 2012 to 300 GW/year by 2025. At the same time, higher efficiencies and lower production costs make PV competitive with onshore wind and hydro power. The current oversupply of 60 GW/year is a temporary phenomenon that causes trouble for PV manufacturers for another 1-2 years. Afterwards, Europe should reenter the PV industry with a “multi-GW solar Airbus project” to drive the enormous PV industry again as a technology leader.
Read more- 19
- July
2013
Conrad Ess pitches Green Technology Staffing and his new crowd recruiting project
Ecosummit TV: People are the key success factor for every company. In this spirit, Conrad Ess pitches Green Technology Staffing at ECO13 Berlin. The Mannheim-based recruiting company helps cleantech startups and corporates find new engineering talents. Now Conrad works on a new startup project to develop a crowd recruiting service for the Smart Green Economy. The idea is not to invent yet another job referral service but rather bring the entire recruiting value chain to the social Internet. While the service is still under development, Conrad is interested in talking to business angels and strategic investors who want to join his crowd recruiting startup. We make sure to give Conrad and his team a hand.
Read more- 17
- July
2013
Moritz Missling pitches Younicos from Berlin
Ecosummit TV: Moritz Missling pitches Younicos that was founded to make the vision of 100% renewable energy become reality. The Berlin-based late stage startup provides large-scale energy storage solutions for renewable offgrid islands and ongrid battery parks. The key technology is a very flexible energy management system that is able to integrate different battery technologies to take advantage of the specific characteristics of each battery technology. One of the famous projects of Younicos is the Graciosa Island whose 4.500 inhabitants shall be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2014. As Younicos would say: “Let the fossils rest in peace.”
Read more- 16
- July
2013
Andreas Spiess pitches Solarkiosk from Berlin
Ecosummit TV: Andreas Spiess wants to bridge the energy divide in Africa as it is the biggest roadblock for development. At ECO13 Berlin, he pitches Solarkiosk that targets 800 million Africans without access to energy. The Berlin-based cleantech startup develops and operates Solarkiosks to provide solar-powered local commerce hubs to offgrid communities. Their vision are entire smart green villages powered by renewable energies. Up to now, Solarkiosk runs 7 sunshops in Ethiopia and 5 in Kenya and has got one year of experience in the field. Having invested €5M Solarkiosk now wants to raise a big VC round to reach the milestone of 100 Solarkiosks in operation. In my opinion, this startup is one of the most exciting I have seen so far, not only because I was born in Nairobi. In fact, I encourage all of us to get involved in at least one renewable energy project in developing countries. Solarkiosk is an obvious candidate.
Read more- 16
- July
2013
Volker Junghanns pitches global law firm Dentons
Ecosummit TV: Volker Junghanns pitches Dentons at ECO13 Berlin. Dentons is a newly created global law firm with 2.500 lawyers in 79 offices in 52 countries. Volker works out of the Frankfurt office and is the German contact for their global Tech Startup Center. Volker is passionate about cleantech and recommends to startups to work with lawyers that understand their business model and its challenges from early on. Whether we talk about relevant industry regulations, tax-optimised business organisation or negotiation skills during fundraising, a smart green lawyer is usually worth the investment.
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- 12
- July
2013
Christopher Schlaeffer pitches Yetu from Berlin
Ecosummit TV: Christopher Schlaeffer pitches Yetu at ECO13 Berlin. The Berlin-based startup develops an open smart home platform that they license as a service to utilities and telecoms. Christopher left Deutsche Telekom to found Yetu 2 years ago because he believes that smart home is the third wave of the consumer Internet. An open platform is badly needed that connects everything with open APIs. A unique feature of Yetu’s energy management module is device recognition based on algorithms allowing the user to compare their energy consumption per device. It is too early to tell whether Christopher and his team will reach their goal of establishing as the leading smart home platform that also enables universal applications including entertainment and security. However, this startup should be on your watch list. Moreover, they are fundraising and are interested in talking to smart green investors and utilities.
Read more- 12
- July
2013
Darragh Kirby pitches Carbon Control from Dublin
Ecosummit TV: Darragh Kirby pitches Carbon Control from Ireland at ECO13 Berlin. The early stage startup offers a stamp of approval for companies to communicate their being green to customers. Carbon Control wants to be the Fairtrade of product carbon footprinting by offering a simple way to communicate to consumers that a product has got a low environmental footprint and is produced by a green company. Carbon Control charges companies for evaluating their product carbon footprint on a regular basis. While the approach of a ubiquitous seal of carbon quality makes sense, it is obvious that they have a very long way to go to establish as the de facto standard. A big game for a small startup but still manageable in the eyes of the 2 co-founders from Dublin. We like fearless entrepreneurs.
Read more- 11
- July
2013
Rastislav Lauko pitches Greenway from Bratislava
Ecosummit TV: Rastislav Lauko pitches Greenway from Slovakia. The Bratislava-based smart green startup provides an electric mobility transport service for corporate customers. Their full-service approach uses converted transporters that get an electric motor and battery swapping system. This investment is worthwhile as the transporters travel on fixed daily routes at least 70.000 kilometers per year. Greenway’s EVs have a reach of 200 km and the battery swap takes less than 7 minutes. Bankrupt Better Place should take a look at this Eastern European startup and their very focused business strategy. As Greenway has got their first customers they now want to raise €3M to scale their business in Slovakia and prepare market entry in Austria and Czech Republic.
Read more- 11
- July
2013
David Tronchoni pitches Edinn from Valencia
Ecosummit TV: David Tronchoni pitches Edinn from Spain at ECO13 Berlin. The Valencia-based cleantech startup provides a software and hardware solution to measure and improve the total efficiency of companies and, in particular, their manufacturing processes. David claims that Edinn’s customers are very happy as they achieve efficiency improvements of 10% in the first year. One of the customers is the Valencian winery Vicente Gandía, one of the top 15 wineries in Spain. Edinn expects revenues of €300K in 2013 and looks for investors to scale their business and develop a new product version based on cloud computing. If you believe in the economic and ecological benefits of better productivity, check out Edinn and talk to David.
Read more- 10
- July
2013
Fujio Kojima pitches Pirika from Tokyo
Ecosummit TV: Fujio Kojima pitches Pirika from Japan. During his trip around the world 2 years ago, Fujio discovered that there is too much trash everywhere. Back in Tokyo, he co-founded Pirika which is backed by Open Network Lab, the accelerator of Digital Garage. Pirika is a green smartphone app for iOS and Android that people use to document how they clean up the world. Up to now, more than 500.000 pieces of litter have been removed by users in 65 countries. Pirika makes money with sponsors, corporates running social engagement programmes for their employees and municipalities that want to improve the allocation of their waste management budgets. Pirika expands our perception of cleantech and won ECO13 Award Facebook Gold. Gambatte kudasai.
Read more- 8
- July
2013
Pieter Bots pitches Geo-En that uses geothermal energy for smart green buildings
Ecosummit TV: Pieter Bots pitches Geo-En at Ecosummit Berlin 2013. The Berlin-based cleantech startup provides a near surface geothermal energy solution to heat and cool smart green buildings. Backed by eCapital, IBB and Pieter Bots himself, Geo-En finalised various new projects in Hamburg, Berlin and other cities in the first half of 2013. Geo-En’s solution is quite unique as it uses very little space and usually works with only one borehole underneath or very close to the building. The systems recently installed cost between €60K and €600K and have an amortisation period of 3 to 20 years depending on energy prices and system configuration. Now Pieter looks for new smart green investors that support Geo-En’s international expansion.
Read more- 5
- July
2013
Carl Berninghausen pitches Sunfire
Ecosummit TV: Carl Berninghausen pitches Sunfire at ECO13 Berlin. The Dresden-based cleantech startup made very good progress since their first performance at ECO11 Berlin. Now they have 50 employees, most of them engineers, who aim at €5M revenues in 2013. Recently, Bilfinger Venture Capital joined as corporate VC and strategic partner for the construction and operation of new Sunfire plants. Sunfire’s core technology is a high-temperature fuel cell which can be used for power-to-gas and power-to-liquids processes. At Ecosummit Berlin, we observed Sunfire in intensive talks with more than one VC. That’s the way it should be.
Read more- 28
- June
2013
Jan Marckhoff pitches Ben Energy from Switzerland
Ecosummit TV: Jan Marckhoff pitches Ben Energy at ECO13 Berlin. The Swiss startup is a spin-off from ETH Zurich and already provides their customer engagement solution to 17 utilities in Switzerland, covering 25% of the Swiss market. Being financed by the founders and customers so far, Ben Energy now looks for €1.2M Series A to increase their sales team in Germany and other new territories. Ben Energy competes with Opower that raised $65M and has got 400 employees. Comparing the two startups, it’s fair to say that the really lean startup comes from Switzerland. In my personal opinion, Ben Energy is a great investment opportunity for any cleantech VC who likes fast scalable business models that are capital-light and proven in the market. Opower may be their exit channel.
Read more- 26
- June
2013
Steven Fawkes talks about the magic of energy efficiency
Ecosummit TV: Steven Fawkes of Day One Energy Solutions talks about the magic of energy efficiency at ECO13 Berlin. How (in)efficient are we? The answer is 11%. Out of 475 exajoules primary energy like fossil fuels or renewables, we only get 55 exajoules useful energy like heat or electricity. That’s why Steve’s blog is called Only Eleven Percent. So there is a massive potential for improvement. In fact, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), which is a combination of capital costs, operations and maintenance, performance and fuel costs, of energy efficiency is the lowest compared to all other sources of energy. In his talk, Steve gives a couple of examples where investments in energy efficiency will generate fast returns.
Read more- 23
- June
2013
Faster exits, higher returns – Alois Flatz discusses the investment strategy of Zouk Capital
Ecosummit TV: Zouk’s Alois Flatz talks about cleantech venture capital 2.0 and the mega trends he takes into consideration for his investment strategy. As we have seen with the feed-in-tariffs, government regulations are in most cases temporary. For startups it’s dangerous to rely on governments as they will change their opinion when the next crisis with huge financial impact is upon them. Alois looks for business models that generate cash from early on and can be grown at low CAPEX for the startup and its customers deploying the new technology. The late stage venture capitalist believes that a top management team at all times and a long-term strategy focused on the exit are among the key success factors. European entrepreneurs and top managers should continue to optimise resource productivity because its benefits will easily survive the next boom and bust cycle.
Read more- 23
- June
2013
Smart green corporate venture capital panel with Eon, Aster, Electranova and Entelios
Ecosummit TV: Tim Lafferty of Global Corporate Venturing moderates the smart green corporate venture capital panel featuring Susana Quintana-Plaza (E.ON), Alexander Schlaepfer (Aster), Philippe Ringenbach (Electranova) and Tom Schulz (Entelios). Being an important pillar of the open innovation strategy of multinationals, corporate venture capital is a big trend as 500 new CVC units were created in the last 3 years. At least 10% of the CVCs are active in one or several of the cleantech sectors. Next to money, CVCs offer strategic value through market access and technological expertise.
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.
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