- 6
- September
2023
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 4-5 June 2024.
Read more- 23
- April
2015
Henrik Olsen chats with Jan Michael Hess about being a smart green VC
Ecosummit TV: “We like to get to know the people behind the business,” explains Henrik Olsen, Partner at Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF), when it comes to building a strong relationship before the investment. Sometimes, relationship building can take a couple of years. In fact, it took 4.5 years in the case of E-Leather from the first meeting until the investment. This may well be a slow investment record but what counts in the end is the fund performance as a result of backing the right startups. E-Leather reprocesses waste leather while making it lighter and stronger to save weight and fuel, e.g. in planes.
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.
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