Ecosummit Zoom 10 March 2023

Ecosummit is the place to be for fundraising startups and active investors. Our online events are sustainable, time-efficient and lots of fun. Let’s meet at Ecosummit Zoom 10 March 2023, 10:00-12:00 Berlin time, co-hosted by Bart Markus, Julia Padberg and David Hunt. 9 speakers share their screens and stories: Davor Sutija (Nexwafe), Rod MacGregor (GlassPoint), Susan Graham (Dendra Systems), Carsten Brinkschulte (Dryad Networks), Axel Dickenbrock (InnoEnergy), Alejandro Cabrera Muñoz (Green Eagle Solutions), Mamoun Taher (Graphmatech), Ulf Stenerhag (Wayout) and Charlotta Holmquist (Blixt). Ecosummit Zoom is invitation-only for sponsors and participants of Ecosummit Berlin 14-15 June 2023. Let’s co-invest, cooperate and build big startups with big impact.

Ecosummit Zoom 10 November 2022

Let’s get together online again and connect fundraising startups and active investors at Ecosummit Zoom 10 November 2022, 10:00-12:00 Berlin time, co-hosted by Gerard Reid, David Hunt and Jan Michael Hess. 9 smart green startups are pitching: Ed Gunn (Lunar Energy), James Johnston (Piclo), Friedrich Rojahn (Solandeo), Martin Baart (Ecoligo), Laurent Coulot (Insolight), Christoph Berger (Vilisto), Mike Rosenberg (Circadian), Tobias Wagner (ChargeX) and Christian Adelsberger (Ubiq). Please note that ECO22 Berlin participants get free access to Ecosummit Zoom 10 November 2022. Alternatively, you may buy your tickets to join us. Let’s co-invest, cooperate and build big startups with big impact.

Ecosummit Zoom 10 March 2022

Climate change, pandemic, war – if we work together globally, we can solve all our problems and save our planet for future generations. Putin’s terrible war in Ukraine kills people and endangers peace, freedom and democracy in the whole world. It also has a huge impact on our climate and the energy transition. Now we must stop burning fossil fuels and reach 100% renewable energy autonomy a lot faster than originally planned. Ecosummit Zoom 10 March 2022 takes place at 10:00-12:00 Berlin time and is a free event for fundraising startups and active investors. Rather than selling tickets we kindly ask you to make a donation to your preferred humanitarian aid organisation (e.g. Aktionsbündnis Katastrophenhilfe in Germany) to support the people and economy in Ukraine.

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.

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.

Christian Reitberger and Jan Michael Hess chat about smart green angel investing

Ecosummit TV: We need more smart green angels in Europe. At the same time, angels should get better at co-investing in smart green startups and creating value during the holding period. With this motivation Christian Reitberger and Jan Michael Hess chat about the art of smart green angel investing at ECO15 Berlin. Christian is a VC and angel at the same time. This double role is possible as Wellington Partners stopped doing new investments in resource efficiency and, as a result, there is no conflict of interest. While many angels stay in the background, Christian gets a lot of dealflow because there is a general shortage of early stage investors and many people just know him. During the last years, he made 12 angel investments including 1 exit and 1 write-off. His active portfolio contains Romo Wind and Electrochaea.

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.

Ecosummit Berlin 2015 takes place on 19-20 May 2015 at the Radialsystem

Ecosummit TV: We are very happy to announce our 9th conference Ecosummit Berlin 2015 taking place on 19-20 May 2015 at the Radialsystem – the best event location in Europe’s leading smart green city for startups. As a warm up, we share the opening of ECO14 Berlin on Ecosummit TV. Last year, the theme of Ecosummit was Accelerating Smart Green Startups. We believe that everybody should think and act like an accelerator trying to reduce capital and time to market while growing the team and revenues faster. This is what our industry needs: Faster startups and bigger exits. While a fast and small exit that results in an aquihire for the buyer may be a good thing, what VCs and LPs really want are big exits by big startups that have big economic and ecological impact. To make big exits happen, founders and their investors have to constantly work on the 4 success factors of startups: People, capital, product and customers. Only if you have the best team, enough capital, a competitive product and lots of happy customers, you are able to become a global market leader. At ECO15 Berlin on 19-20 May 2015, we will continue to work together on accelerating smart green startups aiming at big exits.

Anna Yukiko Bickenbach interviews happy participants at Ecosummit Berlin 2014

Ecosummit TV: Ecosummit TV moderator Anna Yukiko Bickenbach interviews happy participants at Ecosummit Berlin 2014 – our fifth Ecosummit in Berlin that took place on 3-4 June at the one and only Radialsystem. This Ecosummit TV video features Hans Maenhout (Finindus), Alexander Bigge Lidgren (Swedish Energy Agency), Robert Czaja (Tesla), Gina Domanig (Emerald Technology Ventures), Christian Huder (Freelance Consultant), Alexander van Os (Yellow&Blue), Nils Aldag (Sunfire), Jay Marathe (Cartagena Capital), Björn Petersson (Ecosummit Ambassador), Eva Bjorseth (Oceanshore Ventures), Andriy Shmyhelskyy (CareToSave) and Jan Michael Hess (Ecosummit). We look forward to hosting our next smart green innovation conference Ecosummit London 2014 on 7-8 October at the Crystal. Come and join us.

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.

Anna Yukiko Bickenbach interviews happy participants at Ecosummit Berlin 2013

Ecosummit TV: Ecosummit TV moderator Anna Yukiko Bickenbach (Ecotastic) interviews happy participants at Ecosummit Berlin 2013. This Ecosummit TV video features Lillian van Someren Greve (Ecosummit Ambassador), Andreas Spiess (Solarkiosk), Josefine Ahl (Oricane), Fujio Kojima (Pirika), Alexander Lidgren (Swedish Energy Agency), Tarja Teppo (Cleantech Invest) and Jan Michael Hess (Ecosummit). Since our first event in 2010 until our fifth conference this year in Berlin we have managed to build a strong community of cleantech startups, investors and corporates that enjoy honest conversations and productive networking at our events. It feels like a family. We are proud to host the next smart green family reunion in London on 15-16 October 2013 at the Crystal. Come and join us.

Cleanweb startups from Berlin – meeting Ecotastic and FutureWatt at CeBIT Code_n 2013

Ecosummit TV: Our mobile Ecosummit TV studio stops again at CeBIT Code_n 2013 for more smart green startup interviews. This time, Jan interviews the Berlin-based founders Anna Yukiko Bickenbach of Ecotastic and Philipp Pausder of FutureWatt. Ecotastic is a new green marketing service provider that runs a reward system to foster green consumer behaviour. Consumers document their green actions with their smartphone and are rewarded with gift certificates from partner companies.

Ecosummit in London: ECO13 Berlin, Market, Award, WHEB Partners and Friedola

Ecosummit TV: This is a short video recorded at our second Ecosummit Lounge London on 2 May 2013 at Taylor Wessing. It features very nice pictures of the city, another red bus going green for London and a preview of ECO13 Berlin, our 5th cleantech conference for startups, VCs and corporates. We also talk about the launch of Ecosummit Market, our new online platform for startups. Ecosummit Market is integrated with Ecosummit Award. 43 award nominees are busy mobilising votes on Facebook until 27 May. The application deadline for new startups to join the competition is 20 May.

Cleantech for Africa – meeting Helioz and Solarkiosk at CeBIT Code_n 2013

Ecosummit TV: Helioz from Vienna and Solarkiosk from Berlin are 2 cleantech startups that target emerging markets and tackle 2 big problems: drinking water and offgrid electricity. At CeBIT Code_n 2013, we interview Martin Wesian, CEO of Helioz, and Marc Zedler, Grant Manager at Solarkiosk, about their startups, products and milestones reached. Helioz already sold 2.000 Wadi devices that measure how long it takes to disinfect a bottle of water using sunlight. Now they look for €1M to scale up production. Solarkiosk installed 7 kiosks in Ethiopia and 5 in Kenya to enable local commerce in offgrid communities powered by the sun. Andreas Spiess, CEO of Solarkiosk, will pitch at Ecosummit Berlin 2013 to raise new capital for their international rollout.

Ecosummit Lounge London 2 May 2013

Ecosummit and Taylor Wessing, the international law firm with extensive cleantech and private equity experience, co-host the second Ecosummit Lounge London on 2 May 2013 at Taylor Wessing’s magnificent office. We will enjoy an inspiring evening of smart green business networking with a group of local and international cleantech startups, investors and corporates. Rob Wylie, Partner at WHEB Partners, gives a keynote on the current state of cleantech venture capital, followed by startup pitches of the 3 ECO13 Award Nominees Ubitricity, Tado and Loowatt. Tickets are available for £30,00. Thanks a lot to Simon Walker and his team for hosting us and sharing the super cool roof terrace.

Sefaira, Ventive, Energydeck, Solarfuel, Carzapp and Ecosummit pitch at Ecosummit Lounge London

Ecosummit TV: Ecosummit and Taylor Wessing, the international law firm with extensive cleantech and private equity experience, joined forces to organise our first Ecosummit Lounge London on 19 September 2012 at Taylor Wessing’s magnificent London office. We enjoyed an inspiring evening of Smart Green Business Networking with 60 representatives of cleantech startups, investors and corporates. This Ecosummit TV episode features Simon Walker (Taylor Wessing), Niki Rosinski (Generation Investment Management), Sarah Williamson Atkins (Sefaira), Robert Morrison (Ventive), Benjamin Kott (EnergyDeck), Paul Mooney (SolarFuel), Oliver Lünstedt (Carzapp) and Jan Michael Hess (Ecosummit). Thanks a lot to Simon Walker and his team for hosting us. Save the date: Ecosummit Lounge London 2 May 2013

Climate-KIC USA Startup Tour 2012 at Ecosummit Lounge Silicon Valley

Ecosummit TV: Ecosummit and Climate-KIC, the EU programme to foster cleantech entrepreneurship and education, joined forces to organise an evening of Smart Green Business Networking in California. The Ecosummit Lounge Silicon Valley took place on 6 September 2012 at the famous Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale. We enjoyed 2-minute pitches by the 13 European cleantech startups that participated in the Climate-KIC USA Startup Tour to Silicon Valley, Washington and Boston. On behalf of all startups on the tour, I would like to thank Climate-KIC for supporting us.

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.

What cleantech startups and VCs in Europe and USA can learn from each other

Ecosummit TV: Europeans don’t think big enough. Michael Linse (KPCB), Pascal Mauberger (McPhy Energy), Oliver Stahl (Entelios) and Bart Markus (Wellington) discuss the differences between the cleantech startup and VC business in USA and Europe. There are many things we can learn from each other. On average, US cleantech startups get 4 times more capital than European ones. This has to do with the different environment in terms of market size, capital availability and competition.