- 6
- September
2019
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.
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- 18
- March
2014
Alexander Bigge Lidgren presents Swedish Energy Agency and its cleantech portfolio
Ecosummit TV: At ECO13 London, Bigge presents the Swedish Energy Agency that turns out to be the most active funder of cleantech companies in the Nordics with over €120M invested in 2013 and 2012 respectively. As of October 2013, the Swedish Energy Agency had funded 53 energy-related companies with soft loans that either go to projects or directly to the companies. Only if the startup is a success and starts invoicing, the agency gets their money back. Ecofective, ATC Industrial Group and Ecospark are the 3 cases that joined ECO13 London. Clean Motion and their electric 3-wheeler Zbee and Sol Voltaics are also backed by the agency. If you are interested in innovation and dealflow from the Nordics, meet Bigge again at ECO14 Berlin.
Read more- 6
- October
2013
Robert Gallenberger and Matthias Vandepitte present Gimv
Ecosummit TV: Robert Gallenberger and Matthias Vandepitte present Gimv at ECO13 Berlin. The Brussels-based VC is a listed company with €1.8B of assets under management and 90 employees in 4 offices. Recently, Gimv reorganised into 4 investment platforms of which Smart Industries and Sustainable Cities are most relevant for startups active in cleantech and resource efficiency. Gimv supported Ecosummit Berlin 2013 as sponsor and not only looked for new dealflow but also showcased the portfolio company Govecs at the conference. McPhy Energy (ECO12 Berlin) and PE International are also part of the portfolio. Gimv prefers to invest in startups with a proven business model and revenues to help them expand into new markets inside and outside of Europe.
Read more- 3
- February
2013
Smart green dealflow: Sunfire, Greenergetic, Sonnenbatterie, LEDeXCHANGE, Valopaa and Friedola Tech
6 smart green startups successfully raised new venture capital recently: Power to gas and fuel startup Sunfire (seven-figure, Germany), PV online retailer Greenergetic (undisclosed seed, Germany), residential storage provider Sonnenbatterie (undisclosed, Germany), retrofit LED provider LEDeXCHANGE (€500K seed, Germany), LED lighting company Valopaa (€2M, Finland) and recycled plastics manufacturer Friedola Tech (€31M, Germany). The active cleantech VCs include Bilfinger Venture Capital, eCapital, High-Tech Gründerfonds, VNT Management, Silver Lake Kraftwerk and Kleiner Perkins.
Read more- 24
- July
2012
Steven Fawkes of Matrix knows how to make energy efficiency work at scale
Ecosummit TV: Steven Fawkes, Partner at Matrix Group in the UK, is a real expert in energy efficiency and presents his insight into the most promising business models and investment opportunities. In fact, mankind is still extremely energy inefficient. We only use 11% of the primary energy for useful energy such as electricity or heat, the rest is wasted in the process of energy production, conversion and transmission. There are lots of areas where we can increase energy efficiency such as industrial processes, transportation, energy generation and buildings.
Read more- 26
- July
2011
Pascal Klein pitches Tire Recycling Smart Green Startup Jewel Pyrum Innovations
French-German tire recycling Cleantech company Pyrum Innovations really is a smart green startup jewel. Pascal Klein, CEO of Pyrum, delivers a professional investor pitch at ECO11. Pascal embodies the new generation of smart green entrepreneuers raising millions of venture capital for a smarter and greener way of reusing our resources and minimising waste. He is 24 years old. We need more young founders willing to accelerate the transformation to the Smart Green Economy. Enjoy Pascal on Ecosummit TV and get in touch if you look for a hot startup deal.
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