- 16
- January
2023
Aerones raises $30M Series A led by Lightrock and Haniel
We love this startup since we got to know it in April 2021. Applying the power of robotics to make the wind industry more efficient is a great idea. Our ecoportfolio company Aerones raises $30M Series A led by Lightrock and Haniel with participation of new investor Blume Equity. Aerones is based in Riga (Latvia), develops and manufactures a family of smart robots and provides their robot-enabled services for the maintenance of wind turbines with a team of 200 employees to more than 100 customers in 20 countries including Vestas, GE, Siemens Gamesa, NextEra and Enel. The goal is to minimise downtime when wind turbines are inspected, cleaned, coated or repaired. In fact, Aerones’ services are 6 times faster, 40% more efficient and a lot safer for humans that don’t need to climb up wind turbines because the robots do. This enables huge cost savings in the $30B wind turbine maintenance market that is forecasted to grow to $50B by 2028.
Read more- 12
- October
2020
Ecosummit invests in smart solar utility Sunvigo
Solar is by far the most important renewable energy on planet Earth. To grow the number of PV systems on global rooftops a lot faster, we have to make the solar purchase decision and PV system operations as simple as possible for consumers. The solution is to package the complex bundle of solar technology, financing, installation, operations and insurance into a super easy solar electricity tariff provided by a new smart solar utility. Sunvigo are the new kids on the block, in this case the residential solar market in Germany. After aggregating a strong partner network including a smart meter operator and several PV installers, the Cologne-based solar-as-a-service startup already have their first happy customers making their own solar power at home while paying only their monthly electricity bill. Most importantly, the 3 co-founders Vigen Nikogosian, Michael Peters and Bastian Bauwens are a great team: intelligent, well educated, modest and ambitious, with impressive track records and highly motivated to maximise their impact until 2030. That’s why Ecosummit invested €50K in the €500K Seed round together with Zurich-based Übermorgen Ventures and other smart green angels.
Read more- 3
- December
2019
Ecosummit invests in Clim8, Dendra Systems and Solar for Schools
If you want to become a VC and manage other people’s money, you need to start investing your own money first. The angel strategy allows us to build a profitable ecoportfolio and track record now rather than waiting for the first closing of our first fund. In 2019, we’ve made 3 angel investments in Clim8, Dendra Systems and Solar for Schools reinvesting profits we made from organising our Ecosummit conferences. All 3 startups are led by outstanding Founder CEOs and raise their Series A in 2020/21. We look forward to meeting more smart green investors in their cap tables soon. In the future, we plan 1-2 new angel investments every year to generate environmental, financial and strategic returns for Ecosummit and maximise our impact until 2030, the global deadline for reaching carbon neutrality.
Read more- 5
- September
2019
Join Ecosummit Ventures as General Partner
Ecosummit Ventures will be a new smart green VC in Berlin that invests in promising European software and hardware startups with B2C and B2B business models in energy, mobility and cities. Ecosummit Ventures leverages the deal flow, investor network and track record of 20 Ecosummit conferences in 5 countries since 2010. The initiator of Ecosummit Ventures is Jan Michael Hess, the founder of Ecosummit. We’re looking for 1 GP with VC track record and green heart beat to join as co-founder as soon as possible.
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