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- 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.
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- December
2013
Harry Böhme tells the cleantech exit story of Novaled to Samsung
Ecosummit TV: CFO Harry Böhme tells the cleantech exit story of Novaled to Samsung at ECO13 London. Founded in 2001, the Dresden-based startup is a world leader in OLED (Organic LED) materials and Samsung is the biggest customer. In September 2011, Corporate VC Samsung Ventures invested and Novaled’s management made sure to limit Samsung’s stake and control to 10%. 2 years later, Samsung Cheil Industries (aka Samsung Chemical) and Samsung Electronics acquired the remaining 90% for €260M, including an earnout of €30M bound to reaching further milestones. Novaled’s revenues grew from €10M in 2010 to €26M in 2012 (price sales ratio of 10). With €29M of venture capital injected in Novaled the returns are pretty healthy.
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- August
2013
Cleantech exit – Samsung buys Novaled from Dresden
Congratulations to Novaled and its founders and investors which include eCapital, Germany’s most active cleantech VC. This is a fantastic exit that brings hope and money to the cleantech startup industry in Europe. Samsung Cheil Industries (aka Samsung Chemical) and Samsung Electronics buy 50% and 40% respectively of the Dresden-based late stage startup for a total of €260M of which €30M are bound to reaching further growth targets. Corporate VC Samsung Ventures maintains their 10% stake in the transaction. Founded in 2001, Novaled is a world leader in OLED (Organic LED) materials. Following a fabless strategy from the beginning, Samsung is Novaled’s biggest customer and it comes as no suprise that they turn out to be the acquirer. Novaled’s revenues grew from €10M in 2010 to €26M in 2012. Thus, Novaled’s valuation at exit is 10 times the 2012 revenues or, in other words, the price sales ratio is 10.
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- May
2012
Smart Hydro Power raises €2.7 Million Series A from eCapital
Smart Hydro Power successfully closed their Series A financing round raising €2.7M from the German Cleantech VC eCapital which values the startup at €8.4M premoney. The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds converted their loan in this round. As Smart Hydro Power also won the Ecosummit Jury Award 2012 convincing our 53 judges, this milestone is a welcome opportunity to interview the CEO Karl Kolmsee and his investors about the deal and the prospects of this unique young company. Moreover, this deal proves that we continue to bring the best smart green startups onto our Ecosummit stage. To celebrate, we are happy to publish Karl’s fantastic ECO12 pitch on Ecosummit TV just in time for this story.
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- April
2012
Cleantech Inside Is The Future – Reporting From Cleantech Forum Europe 2012
“Cleantech inside is the future,” forecasts Sheeraz Haji, CEO of the Cleantech Group. I totally agree with Sheeraz and like to call it: sustainable by default. The next wave is pervasive cleantech and ubiquitous sustainability management that will be adopted by every company in every sector. Of course, it will take time to make it real but the good news is that there are many smart green investors, startups and corporates working on it. This was obvious at the fantastic Cleantech Forum Europe 2012 which Sheeraz and his team organised this week in Munich. Before I share some of the general challenges VCs and startups are facing, let me brief you on the strategy of the Cleantech Group.
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- April
2012
Serial Entrepreneur Prof. Karl Leo Unveils New OLED Microdisplay Startup At ECO12
Ecosummit TV: Prof. Karl Leo is Germany’s poster child when it comes to co-founding new smart green startups out of university. In his case, it’s the University of Dresden where he leads the Institute for Applied Photophysics. He simultaneously works with Fraunhofer IPMS to create even more value. Karl Leo is famous for co-founding Novaled which is heading for NASDAQ as well as Heliatek. His new startup that currently looks for smart green VCs invents OLED Microdisplays which are super energy efficient as you put them directly in front of the eye. Karl Leo is a role model for Europe’s university professors and we are happy that he joined Ecosummit 2012.
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- December
2011
Karl Leo, Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth and Martin Pfeiffer win Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2011
Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Karl Leo, Dr. Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth and Dr. Martin Pfeiffer for winning the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2011 (DZP11) today. The DZP11 is awarded by the German President and includes €250K prize money. I am very proud of this trio and their work. Karl Leo is university professor at TU Dresden and co-founder of both Novaled and Heliatek, Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth is co-founder and CSO (Chief Scientific Officer) of Novaled and Martin Pfeiffer is co-founder and CTO of Heliatek. It’s all about organic electronics, organic LED and organic PV made in Dresden, Europe’s leading cluster for green photonics.
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- November
2011
Smart Green Dealflow: HTGF, Better Place, Epyon, Heliospectra, Tiramizoo, Compositence, Novaled and Proterra
Finally, I find a bit of time to highlight some recent investment deals in our smart green ecosystem. We plan to write our Smart Green Dealflow more often, so please keep sending us your cleantech deal press releases. This time we cover High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Better Place, Epyon, Heliospectra, Tiramizoo, Compositence, Novaled and Proterra. These companies all work on the future of mobility and LED.
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- August
2011
11.000 VideoViews on Ecosummit TV – Let’s Celebrate by Rewatching the best Smart Green Startups and VCs
We are proud to announce having reached a new major milestone on Ecosummit TV, our wonderful Youtube HD channel: 11.000 VideoViews since we started in February 2011. This is a good reason for rewatching some of the best episodes on Ecosummit TV featuring smart green startups and VCs. Learn about hot Cleantech deals worth backing and how you should invest your fund for successful returns. One more thing: Ecosummit 2012 takes place on 22-23 March 2012 in Berlin and it’s going to be big. Stay tuned!
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- April
2011
Ecosummit TV – ECO11 – Harry Boehme – Novaled
Harry Böhme, CFO of Novaled, gives an update on his company at ECO11. Novaled is the fabless European leader in Organic LED (OLED) and one of the most exciting Cleantech startups in Germany. Founded in 2001, Novaled is profitable and made revenues of €10M in 2010 with 100 employees. Among Novaled’s investors is the German VC eCapital. Unfortunately, Novaled does not plan another financing round and may rather consider an IPO or tradesale some time in the future.
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- April
2011
Global Master Plan: Smart Green Economy, Cities, Companies and Consumers
Going smart green now should be our motivation on all levels. For the smart green transformation I propose a strategy based on 7 pillars. This strategy has to be elaborated into a full-featured global master plan. I invite everybody to contribute to the elaboration of the global master plan and to join its execution.
1. Our global goal should be the fast transformation to the Smart Green Economy.
2. Cities are the epicentre of economic activity and must go smart green now.
3. Companies should adopt smart green strategies offering sustainable products and services.
4. Fast cost reduction of smart green technologies is the key leverage for the mass market.
5. We have to change our lifestyle and become smart green consumers.
6. We have to shift political and financial power to the United Nations.
7. Huge investments of human and financial capital are necessary.
Let’s start now, improve continuously, measure our progress every year and use open innovation and transparent communication so that we can learn from each other. Let’s share our ideas and know-how online on a global scale.
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- March
2011
Die Smart Green Economy braucht mehr Unternehmer und Investoren
Naturkatastrophen, die Atomkraftwerke zerstören, sind der Super-GAU. AKWs im Erdbebengebiet sind keine gute Idee. Nach der globalen Schockstarre müssen wir jetzt umdenken und die richtigen Ziele definieren und erreichen. Dringender denn je müssen wir an der Lösung der lebensbedrohlichen Klima- und Ressourcenprobleme arbeiten. Die globale Smart Green Economy ist das richtige Ziel. Neben der Politik stehen vor allem Unternehmer und Investoren in der Verantwortung.
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- March
2011
Ecosummit TV – Novaled CFO Harry Boehme
Our new Ecosummit TV episode brings you more unknown secrets and untold stories about Europe’s leading fabless OLED technology provider. Jan Michael Hess interviews the Novaled CFO Harry Boehme to warm you up for ECO11 on 24-25 March 2011 in Berlin. This video also features Dr. Mike Zoellner who is a project leader with funky glasses in the chemistry lab of Novaled. We love the fact that the future of organic electronics is a teamwork of the best scientists in chemistry, physics, engineering and software. Thanks a lot for all the lessons and a great time together in Dresden. We will be back!
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- March
2011
Ecosummit TV – Novaled Founder Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth
On 2 March 2011, the Ecosummit TV team drove from Berlin to Dresden to visit 2 of the hottest German Cleantech startups: Novaled and Heliatek. Ecosummit Founder Jan Michael Hess interviews the Novaled Founder and Chief Scientist Dr. Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth. Novaled is a global leader in Organic LED (OLED) and enjoyed €11M revenues in 2010 with 100 employees. Novaled CFO Harry Böhme will speak at ECO11 on 24-25 March 2011 in Berlin.
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