Jay Marathe of Cartagena Capital takes startups from fundraising to successful exits
Ecosummit TV: Startups and VCs alike share the need for more and better exits. While we believe that Pan-European co-investing is an important success factor for achieving good exits, we acknowledge that exits are challenging and often are facilitated by corporate finance advisors representing the sell or buy side. In this context, Jay Marathe of Cartagena Capital talks about taking startups from fundraising to successful exits at ECO14 Berlin. The timing of the exit is key. Startups should constantly listen to the market for strong exit signals: competitors get acquired, customers place huge orders or buyers have lots of cash and start calling. At the same time, it makes sense to continue fundraising and creating value until you reach key valuation milestones and have a nice selection of LOIs from multiple buyers on the table. A recent exit is the $100M acquisition of AlertMe by British Gas, their biggest customer and one of their VCs. This transaction also enabled the second exit of SET Ventures.
Read moreJari Varjotie pitches Savosolar from Finland
Ecosummit TV: Jari Varjotie pitches Savosolar from Finland at ECO13 Berlin. The cleantech startup develops and manufactures very efficient solar thermal absorbers and collectors that are based on patented optical nano coating. In fact, Savosolar claims to be the most efficient solar collector in the field and over 30 customers are a pretty good market proof. Savosolar is backed by Cleantech Invest and currently raises a new round of €4M of which €2M will be public funding. Break-even is planned for 2014 and we believe Savosolar to be an attractive investment opportunity with a nice risk return profile given the advanced development stage of the Finnish startup. Go for it, the sun rises in the north.
Read moreOsborne Clarke’s Carsten Schneider discusses term sheets and other legal challenges
Ecosummit TV: As Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson write in Venture Deals, 2 key things matter in a term sheet negotiation: economics and control. Carsten Schneider is a German Partner at the European law firm Osborne Clarke. In his presentation at ECO12 Düsseldorf, he gives condensed legal advice to cleantech startups and also discusses term sheets. During the lifetime cycle of a cleantech startup from seed stage to exit usually a number of financing rounds take place during which the interests of the startup, existing and new investors have to be balanced in a smart and sustainable way. In fact, the relationship between founders and investors is exit-driven and entrepreneurs should understand what this means in reality – for them and their startup.
Read moreFlorian Meyer-Delpho pitches solar e-commerce startup Greenergetic
Ecosummit TV: Florian Meyer-Delpho pitches Greenergetic at ECO12 Düsseldorf and believes that the market is ready for their solar e-commerce business model thanks to grid parity. Greenergetic develops an online portal to bring PV and smart home solutions directly to residential end customers. Houseowners can plan, finance and order their preferred PV system online. The Bielefeld-based cleantech startup also offers a whitelabel solution for utilities that are increasingly interested in selling solar systems to their customer base. Backed by eCapital and following the role model of Solarcity, Greenergetic is about to launch their new portal very soon.
Read moreMartin Mohr pitches the algae startup Ecoduna from Austria
Ecosummit TV: Martin Mohr passionately pitches the Austrian algae startup Ecoduna at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. Founded in 2009, Ecoduna is one of the cleantech startups pioneering the algae business in Europe. Their ultimate goal is price competitive algae-based biofuel which they plan to reach within 5 to 8 years. Until then, the pharmaceutical industry is a potential buyer of algae products. Vattenfall in Germany is one of Ecoduna’s pilot customers. The Austrian startup received €2M public funding and patiently looks for €5M to €10M venture capital from strategic investors.
Read moreAlexander Zosel pitches electric helicopter startup E-volo
Ecosummit TV: Alexander Zosel pitches E-volo at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. The German startup develops a new type of electric helicopter called Volocopter. While in the US you don’t need a special license to fly the 1-seater Volocopter, the German aviation authority plans to create a new class of aircraft specifically for the Volocopter. Personal electric aviation will be a totally new market and E-volo is a worldwide aviation pioneer. They celebrated the first manned flight with a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft on 21 October 2011. Backed by the 4 founders and a €2M grant from the German government, E-volo looks for adventurous VCs in Europe and the US.
Read moreStefan Roest pitches Dutch solar testing startup Eternal Sun
Ecosummit TV: Eternal Sun was a real highlight at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. The lean cleantech startup from TU Delft in the Netherlands develops and manufactures state-of-the-art solar testing equipment and found customers all over the world within 1.5 years after company foundation. The audience was impressed by the fact that Eternal Sun focuses so well on lean product development and fast customer development while still being self-funded by the founders. CTO Stefan Roest delivers an awesome pitch on Ecosummit TV and now looks for VCs that know the solar testing market well and can help scale sales and production.
Read morePaul Cousens of Autodesk talks about designing better cleantech products
Ecosummit TV: “We are all trying to help promising clean technology get to market faster,” says Paul Cousens, Global Cleantech Business Development Manager at Autodesk, at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. Most of the innovation happens at the early stage level, but early stage startups typically don’t have a lot of money. That’s why Autodesk started their Cleantech Partner Programme that provides free product design software to startups with a value of up to €120K. In his talk, Paul discusses how design technology drives clean technology innovation. “Make all your mistakes in pixels instead of atoms,” sums it up best.
Read moreOliver Luenstedt pitches p2p car sharing startup Carzapp
Ecosummit TV: Oliver Lünstedt, CEO of Carzapp, pitches the German p2p car sharing startup. While there are already 3 peer-2-peer car sharing startups in Germany, Carzapp is the first one to have developed their own hardware solution called ZappKit. The ZappKit enables wireless car access with smartphones used as digital keys. The magic hardware box also includes GPS and an immobiliser that prevents theft. Moreover, the Berlin-based startup has an idea for the cost-efficient rollout of electric cars and participates in the electric mobility showcase Berlin-Brandenburg by adapting their platform to support p2p electric car sharing. Carzapp is backed by angels and looks for €1M to enter the German market in the first half of 2013.
Read moreThomas delos Santos pitches the electric microcar Colibri
Ecosummit TV: Not many people have the guts to found an electric vehicle startup these days. Thomas delos Santos, CEO of Innovative Mobility, is one of them. His pitch at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 provides the full story behind the electric microcar called Colibri. The Colibri will be unveiled at the auto show in Geneva in March 2013. The light electric vehicle (LEV) for city dwellers will cost €8.9K plus monthly battery leasing costs of €55. Colibri shall hit the market in 2015 and can be pre-ordered in 2014 – provided that Thomas manages to raise the rather large funds needed for series development and production. We cross our fingers as we want to see the smart green Colibri on the street.
Read moreLaurent Giai-Miniet pitches EnOcean
Ecosummit TV: Laurent Giai-Miniet pitches the late stage cleantech startup EnOcean at ECO12 Berlin. EnOcean provides wireless energy harvesting technology for smart green buildings and has become the de facto standard for batteryless building and home automation. Sensors and switches powered by EnOcean modules are used to control the lighting, heating and cooling of rooms depending on room occupancy and other variables such as open or closed windows. EnOcean’s investors include Wellington, Emerald, Chrysalix SET and Siemens. If you are planning a new or retrofit smart green building, EnOcean is the right choice.
Read moreFelix Krause pitches PV marketplace Milk The Sun
Ecosummit TV: Not only their name is cool but also their business model. Felix Krause pitches Milk the Sun at ECO12 Berlin. The Berlin-based smart green startup develops and operates an online marketplace for existing and planned PV systems connecting buyers and sellers. Milk the Sun’s goal is to establish solar investments as a liquid asset class that can be easily traded. There are several service providers attached to the marketplace that can help make a PV installation more effective and cost-efficient, thus increasing ROI. Milk the Sun is live in Germany, UK and Italy and looks for funding to accelerate their company growth.
Read moreWhat 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.
Read moreEcosummit Lounge Silicon Valley 6 September 2012
Ecosummit and Climate-KIC, the EU programme to foster cleantech entrepreneurship and education, joined forces to invite you to an evening of Smart Green Business Networking in California. The Ecosummit Lounge Silicon Valley takes place on 6 September 2012 at the famous Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale. Doors open at 18:00, at 19:30 our programme starts and we network until 22:00. We will enjoy 2-minute pitches by the 13 European cleantech startups that participate in the Climate-KIC USA Tour to Silicon Valley, Washington and Boston. At the lounge, we also serve you short presentations by the hosts, a keynote by Mark Perutz of DBL Investors, tasty drinks, finger food and all that Jazz. Tickets for the Ecosummit Lounge Silicon Valley are available for $30,00. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Read moreHolger Rupp presents the green consumer marketing startup Get Neutral
Ecosummit TV: If your product isn’t totally green, i.e. its product carbon footprint is larger than zero, then your customers can still go green by neutralising it. Get Neutral has got a suitable green consumer marketing solution for this problem. According to the CEO Holger Rupp, the startup combines sustainability, marketing, mobile technologies and social networks.
Read moreYueksel Sirmasac pitches the smart home startup Rockethome
Ecosummit TV: Yueksel Sirmasac, Founder and CEO, pitches Rockethome from Cologne. The German startup provides a software platform to utilities and enables them to offer userfriendly smart home and smart energy applications. Rockethome was founded in 2010, has 25 employees and already 30 customers. Rockethome provides a connected platform that analyses and optimises energy consumption and production data, e.g. from solar or CHP systems, and enables the user to change his energy behaviour with the help of a smart home control system.
Read moreRolf Stein pitches waste to energy startup Advanced Plasma Power
Ecosummit TV: Waste is a resource. Rolf Stein pitches Advanced Plasma Power (APP) at Ecosummit Berlin 2012. The UK-based startup has an efficient gas plasma technology to convert waste to energy. APP was founded in 2005 as a spin-off from the British engineering company Tetronics. The outcomes of APP’s Gasplasma process are syngas (synthetic gas), which is rich in Hydrogen, and Plasmarok, a solid material which can be used for multiple applications, e.g. as building material.
Read moreMarie-Anne Brodschii presents the Veolia Innovation Accelerator
Ecosummit TV: Marie-Anne Brodschii, VP Innovation at Veolia, explains how Veolia drives cleantech innovation and how the cooperation with startups works in practice. The French corporate has got cleantech in its DNA and is pretty big: 230.000 employees generate €29.6B revenues and are active on 5 continents. Veolia’s business is focused on the management of water, waste, energy and energy efficiency. In fact, Veolia is very open towards smart green innovation coming from startups. To foster open innovation, Veolia launched the Veolia Innovation Accelerator (VIA) 2 years ago.
Read moreManfred Heil pitches WeSustain which helps companies optimise their sustainability performance
Ecosummit TV: Manfred Heil, Co-Founder and CEO of WeSustain, pitches the German Green IT startup at Ecosummit Berlin 2012. WeSustain provides a web-based software platform that supports the internal and external processes of sustainability management. WeSustain’s software helps companies measure, improve and communicate their sustainability performance.
Read moreAlgae startup Subitec raises €4.5 Million Series A from eCapital, Fraunhofer, HTGF and KfW
The upcoming German algae startup scene celebrates its first venture capital investment. The lucky startup is Stuttgart-based Subitec that successfully closed its Series A financing round led by eCapital. Subitec’s algae factories consist of patented vertical photobioreactors that use little space and energy while producing high yield. CEO Peter Ripplinger who pitched Subitec at Ecosummit Berlin 2011 wants to use the fresh money to grow the team, expand the lab and pilot facilities and internationalise the business. The main target market is the US where the demand for innovative algae technologies is the strongest.
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