- 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
- June
2013
Faster exits, higher returns – Alois Flatz discusses the investment strategy of Zouk Capital
Ecosummit TV: Zouk’s Alois Flatz talks about cleantech venture capital 2.0 and the mega trends he takes into consideration for his investment strategy. As we have seen with the feed-in-tariffs, government regulations are in most cases temporary. For startups it’s dangerous to rely on governments as they will change their opinion when the next crisis with huge financial impact is upon them. Alois looks for business models that generate cash from early on and can be grown at low CAPEX for the startup and its customers deploying the new technology. The late stage venture capitalist believes that a top management team at all times and a long-term strategy focused on the exit are among the key success factors. European entrepreneurs and top managers should continue to optimise resource productivity because its benefits will easily survive the next boom and bust cycle.
Read more- 7
- February
2013
Alois Flatz, Zouk Capital, talks about cleantech venture capital 2.0
Ecosummit TV: Alois Flatz, Partner at Zouk Capital, talks about Cleantech Venture Capital 2.0 at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 and explains how investment strategies are changing in the current market. On the one hand, Alois thinks positive as cleantech becomes ubiquitous and affects all aspects of life. On the other hand, he has learned from 20 years of experience that VC investors (general partners) depend on fast exits to be able to raise new funds from their investors (limited partners). Thus, investment horizons are shortening and startups need to generate cash and prove their business models as quickly as possible. Zouk Capital is a late stage investor that accelerates cleantech startups that already have at least €5M revenues, multiplying the value of the company and then selling it again after a couple of years. Don’t approach Zouk without revenues and rather try to get there fast.
Read more- 20
- 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.
Read more- 23
- January
2012
Smart Green Dealflow: myTaxi, Comuto, Younicos, Solarkiosk, Smartblue and FFK
Taxi 2.0: myTaxi, a very useful mobility service of Intelligent Apps, today raised €10M from car2go (Daimler), T-Venture (Deutsche Telekom), Xing Founder Lars Hinrichs (Cinco Capital, Hackfwd) and KfW. myTaxi is the taxi centre for the Mobile Economy and the app is available for iPhone and Android. Interestingly, Robert Henrich, CEO of car2go, believes that “car2go and myTaxi do not compete but complement each other.” In fact, I partly disagree as one way car sharing actually enables short trips from A to B leaving the car behind, the same way taxis do.
Read more- 27
- July
2011
ECO11 Cleantech VC Panel showcasing Taylor Wessing, WHEB Partners, Zouk Capital and Climate Change Capital
This new Ecosummit TV episode showcases the views of 3 leading Cleantech VCs and the law firm Taylor Wessing on the hot trends in the Cleantech VC industry. Enjoy Peter Hellich (Taylor Wessing), Joerg Sperling (WHEB Partners), Felix von Schubert (Zouk Capital) and Bruno Derungs (Climate Change Capital), moderated by Jan Michael Hess (Ecosummit), talking about the deals they make and the deals they would like to make.
Read more