Ecosummit Berlin 2023 Speakers

We’re happy to announce 116 speakers including 79 startups at Ecosummit Berlin 14-15 June 2023. All speakers pitch for 5 minutes on the same stage, that’s the unique concept of Ecosummit loved by our participants. Special thanks to our 4 wonderful session moderators at ECO23 Berlin: Julia Padberg, David Hunt, Gerard Reid and Bart Markus.

Jan Michael Hess (Host)
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CEO
Ecosummit
https://ecosummit.net
Jan is Founder and CEO of Ecosummit, angel investor and advisor. Our mission is maximising our impact until 2030, the deadline for net zero carbon. Ecosummit accelerates smart green startups in energy, mobility and cities to save our climate, decarbonise our economy and electrify our planet. Our conferences are startup markets enabling fundraising, lead and co-investing, corporate venturing, open innovation and M&A. Since 2010, we organised 23 physical Ecosummit events in 5 countries as well as 21 Ecosummit Zoom online events. Ecosummit TV on YouTube provides 1.400 videos (760.000 views). Prior to founding Mobile Economy in 2000, Jan worked for Pixelpark, Icon Medialab and Ciao as Strategy Consultant, Senior Project Manager and Head of Marketing and Sales. Holding a business degree from the University of Mannheim, he lives in Berlin and Barcelona with his wife Simone and their son Mateo and is a big fan of Jazz, Japan and sports (padel, yoga, mountain biking, kayaking, swimming, basketball and hiking).

Julia Padberg (Co-Host)
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Partner
SET Ventures
http://www.setventures.com
Julia is a Partner at SET Ventures. Her mission is to reduce the climate impact of the energy sector through digital innovation, together with industry-leading entrepreneurs. She is deeply experienced in finance, energy, and cleantech. Since 2016, Julia has been instrumental in strengthening SET’s European network and visibility, as well as spearheading new investments. Previously, Julia was active in corporate finance and investment advisory in cleantech and energy, amongst others at merchant bank Kempen & Co. She advised on M&A transactions, IPOs, investments, and fundraising processes at European energy companies. She was also involved in establishing new energy projects, business cases, structured financing, and advising on growth strategies. Julia holds a Master’s degree in Environmental & Resource Economics from University College London. She is a board member and trusted advisor at Flexidao, Trunkrs and Sensorfact, and formerly at Depsys (acquired). She was also a board observer at Energyworx, GreenCom Networks (acquired) and Greenflux (acquired).

David Hunt (Co-Host)
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Managing Partner
Hyperion Executive Search
http://hyperionsearch.co.uk
David Hunt is Managing Partner of clean energy executive search specialists Hyperion Executive Search. He has been in the clean energy sector since 2007 and held posts on the Policy Board of the UK Renewable Energy Association (REA), Chaired the Pan-European Energy Storage Alliance and sits on the Low Carbon Economy Board for the Liverpool City LEP. He also spent 7 years as director of an award winning high growth, multi-technology renewable energy company, before setting up Hyperion in 2014.

Gerard Reid (Co-Host)
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Partner
Alexa Capital
http://alexa-capital.com
Gerard Reid is a Co-founder and Partner at Alexa Capital. He is focused on assisting people and organizations in the energy and mobility areas who are struggling to understand and come to terms with unpredictable and rapid change going on around them. Gerard has developed a strong reputation as a leading global expert in the energy and mobility space. He is an avid blogger and author with a following of more than 150k across several platforms and he is the co-host to “REDEFINING ENERGY” podcast. A member of the World Economic Forum Global Council for Energy, he regularly attends Davos and other leading industry events. He has spent over fifteen years working in investment banking (equity research, fund management and corporate finance) with a focus on both the energy transition and the digital energy revolution the sector is going through. Prior to founding Alexa Capital, he was Managing Director and Head of European Cleantech Research at Jefferies & Co. Gerard is an adjunct professor at Imperial College and a lecturer at the University of Berlin. He was born and raised in Dublin and received a Bachelor of Business Studies and Master of Arts as well as Higher Diploma in Education from Trinity College Dublin. Currently, he works in London and lives outside Berlin in a small village.

Bart Markus (Co-Host)
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CEO
GAP Technology Holding
http://www.gaptechnologyholding.com
Apart from being a veteran Investor, Bart is a seasoned and passionate entrepreneur and is renowned for his relentless drive to internationalise companies and help them become successful beyond Europe by conquering the US or Asia. A Dutch native, he has been a General Partner at Wellington from 2000 to 2015 and played a significant role in building Wellington from a €50M fund in 1999 to a well-established player in the European VC market with some €800M of assets under management. Over the past 2 decades, Bart has invested in an impressive collection of deep IP Technology companies located in Europe and the US. Many have already made the successful leap to the US or are successfully opening up new foreign markets. Investments include Navteq (NASDAQ IPO in 2004: NVT; sold to Nokia in 2007), Meiosys (sold to IBM in 2005), Nawotec (sold to Carl Zeiss in 2005), Q-Layer (sold to Sun Microsystems in 2009), Cavendish Kinetics and GLO. Bart spent the past 18 years as an investor in deep tech companies, and additionally as a serial entrepreneur himself co-founded by now 6 companies including Hexagem, a defect-free GaN substrate technology company and the MRI Centre, a highly successful chain of private medical diagnostic clinics. He currently chairs a number of high profile companies like First Light Fusion (Fusion Energy), Orbex (Rockets), Ultimaker (3D printing) and Hexagem (GaN nanowire substrates) and serves on the board of a number of other deep tech companies. Bart started his career as a process control system and project engineer with Shell in Norway and then worked at McKinsey, both in the Netherlands and South Africa. Bart holds an MSc in Applied Physics from Twente University of Technology in the Netherlands and an MBA (with distinction) from INSEAD in France.

Christoph Ostermann (Angel)
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CEO
Green Fortress
Christoph is a cleantech enthusiast and veteran with more than 20 years of industry experience as serial entrepreneur, executive and investor. During this time, he co-founded and run several clean energy startup companies. In 2010, he co-founded Sonnen group, a pioneer, innovator and global leader in the residential energy storage space, which he exited in 2019 and run as a CEO until 2021. Today, Christoph is focusing on his investment activities with his company Green Fortress as well as on several non-executive board roles where he actively supports his cleantech portfolio companies as an advisor and coach. Christoph holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Bayreuth.

Dr. Anne-Kathrin Hinze (VC)
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Investment Manager
InnoEnergy
https://www.innoenergy.com
Anne is an Investment Manager at EIT InnoEnergy. EIT InnoEnergy is the world’s largest early-stage investor in the field of sustainable energy and backs climate tech innovations throughout Europe across a wide range of areas, including energy storage, transport and mobility, renewables and sustainable buildings. As part of the investment team Anne is responsible for InnoEnergy´s investments in startups and scaleups in the DACH region that bring the relevant technologies to achieve and accelerate our decarbonization goals. Previously, Anne worked at PwC as M&A advisor with a focus on venture deals and startup valuation. Anne holds a Master in Economics. During her PhD she analysed the impact of corporate sustainability on capital markets.

Dr. Verena Adamheit (Accelerator)
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Senior Business Developer
Swedish Energy Agency
http://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/
Verena Adamheit is an experienced senior business developer at the Swedish Energy Agency supporting Swedish small and medium enterprises with energy innovations on their way into foreign markets. She is country manager USA and responsible for the Sweden-US Green Transition Initiative on behalf of the Swedish Energy Agency. Additionally, she heads the investment promotion program at the agency. Verena Adamheit has previously worked for the German-Swedish Chamber of Commerce and the communications consultancy Ketchum Pleon. She has a background in Public Affairs and holds a PhD in Contemporary History.

Igor Ryapin (VC)
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Head of Research
First Imagine Ventures
http://www.firstimagine.com
Igor Ryapin is the Head of Research at First Imagine. A seasoned expert in the power sector, his work experience spans from utilities and power sector companies to think-tanks and research institutions specialising in the energy sector. Igor’s focus of interest is economics of the new technologies in the energy, as well as regulation of the electricity markets. Within First Imagine Igor is responsible for finding and initial assessment of the new investment opportunities, as well as providing expert support to the portfolio companies.

Jay Marathe (Service Provider)
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Managing Director
Bryan, Garnier & Co
https://www.bryangarnier.com
Jay is a Managing Director specialising in Energy Transition and Sustainability at Bryan Garnier – Europe’s Technology Growth Investment Bank. He has worked on dozens of transactions over twenty years at Bryan Garnier, as well as earlier at Durlacher, Aloe Private Equity and Atlas Venture. Some of his recent transactions include the sale of two companies in hyperspectral imaging, a €180m capital raise for McPhy (green H2 production), €50m of capital raised for Enapter and its shareholders (next gen H2 electrolysers) from strategic and financial investors, the sale of REstore (demand response/VPP), a capital raise for GridBeyond (demand response/VPP), and a capital raise for Visedo (EV drivetrains). Jay holds a BA Electrical & Information Science from Cambridge University, an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA in Business Administration from INSEAD

Dr. Arne Morteani (VC)
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Founding Partner
Kiko Ventures
https://www.kiko.vc
Arne is a Founding Partner at Kiko Ventures, a $450 million evergreen VC dedicated to climate tech investing. Kiko was set up recently by three climate tech veterans and uses an innovative structure to address some of the most challenging, but also most rewarding, opportunities in climate tech. Arne has been in climate tech for 20+ years, as an investor, a consultant, and a scientist. His current board roles at Kiko include Vytal Global, the world’s largest reuse system for food packaging, and Tado, the European leader in home energy controls. Before Kiko, Arne was a General Partner at cleantech pioneer ETF Partners for 14 years, where he invested in over 50 transactions across all stages, sectors, and regions. Investments at ETF included sustainable leather firm E-leather and grid software developer Greenbird. Prior to ETF, Arne was a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group in London. He originally started his career as a scientist, leading a research team at Cambridge University developing novel solar cells. Arne holds a Diploma in Physics with distinction from Munich University, a PhD in Materials Science from Cambridge where he was a Gates Scholar, and a Finance MBA from London Business School.

Veronique Hördemann (CVC)
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Managing Partner
Future Energy Ventures
https://fev.vc
Veronique is an experienced Managing Partner with a strong track record in venture capital as well as the energy industry and commodity trading business. She was part of the founding team of Innogy Ventures where she successfully built up the team and fund as part of a small founders’ team and moved on to FEV as authorized representative. She holds board/observer seats at various portfolio companies (GridX, Akselos, TechSee and ShieldIOT).

Todd O’Neill (CVC)
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CEO
Vestas Ventures
https://www.vestas.com/ventures
Todd joined Vestas in January 2022 as CEO of Vestas Ventures the corporate venture arm of Vestas Wind Systems. Todd has a long history of working with technology businesses as both investor and advisor. He is driven by strategic transformation, and focuses on what pain points businesses solve for their end customer. He enjoys collaborating with management teams to secure clarity in their strategy, and find enablers for accelerated growth and success. He is also currently involved with Gro Capital, a highly successful mid-cap private equity firm focused on the SaaS space with in excess of €1 billion assets under management. Todd has previously worked in senior positions within investment banking and global corporate development. He lives outside Denmark with his partner, two sets of twins and small handful of dogs.

Erin Hallock (CVC)
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Managing Partner
BP Ventures
https://www.bp.com/en/global/ventures.html
Erin joined bp Ventures in July 2018 and is responsible for the origination, appraisal, completion and management of a portfolio of investments origination, investment and portfolio management activities to accelerate bp’s effort to achieve Net Zero. Erin is particularly focused on digital and deep tech investments. Erin has spent her 20-year career advising businesses, initially as a management consultant supporting Fortune 100 and 500 technology businesses and more recently as investor where she has participated in over 20 investments. Erin holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. She also holds a post-Baccalaureate degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BA in International Studies from the University of Washington.

Dr. Carlos Chalbaud (CVC)
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Investment Director
Engie New Ventures
http://www.engieventures.com
Carlos A. Chalbaud currently works as Investment Director at Engie New Ventures. Prior to this position he worked as a Business Development Manager for Storengy, a subsidiary of Engie Group, with a focus on the Americas. He has extensive managerial and technical experience on energy projects in Europe and overseas. Carlos currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of various startups in the energy sector and has served as a Non-Executive Director of a large not-for-profit. Carlos has served as volunteer in professional associations for more than a decade. He holds a BSc in Chemical Engineer from Simon Bolivar University, a MSc in Petroleum Engineering and PhD in Engineering, both from IFP-School; and a MBA from IE Business School.

Nicolas Ambrosioni (CVC)
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Investment Director
EDF Pulse Ventures
https://www.edf.fr/en/pulse
Nicolas is a VC and M&A professional with 15 years of experience, showcasing a strong background in the energy, climate and mobility industries. Nicolas currently serves as a VC investor at EDF Pulse Ventures, the Corporate Venture Capital fund of EDF, based in London. He focuses on sourcing and executing Series A deals in areas such as home electrification, PV and renewable energy. Prior to this, Nicolas held various roles in M&A for over 10 years on both the advisory and corporate sides, with a proven track record of 20+ successful transactions across a broad range of industries. His educational background includes a Master’s degree in Finance and Strategy from Sciences Po and Applied Physics degree from Ecole Normale Supérieure.

Robert Blom (CVC)
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Investment Director
Eneco Ventures
https://www.eneco.com/what-we-do/ventures/
Robert is an Investment Director at Eneco Ventures. He started his career in investment banking and renewable asset project finance and later switched to working for startups as advisor and investor. He sits on the board of several of Eneco Ventures’ portfolio companies such as Energyworx, Gradyent, Fusebox and on the Advisory Committee of Rockstart Energy Fund.

Metin Zerman (CVC)
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Investment Manager
Energie 360°
https://www.energie360.ch/de/energie-360/portrait/investitionen/smart-energy-investitionsfonds/
Metin Zerman is an Investment Manager at Energie 360° AG. He has more than 12 years of experience as an engineer within the automotive industry and innovation management across different industries. He started his career at ZF Friedrichshafen AG and was responsible for transmission control development for customers such as Iveco, Mercedes, Hyundai and VDL. As a consultant at the Technical University of Munich he was advising Medtech, Life Science and Cleantech spinoffs from inception to market entry, before joining Swisscom’s digital innovation department. He holds a Mechanical Engineering degree and an MBA in General Management.

Julia Schmidt (CVC)
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Investment Manager
Shell Ventures
https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies/shell-ventures.html
Julia is an Investment Manager at Shell Ventures based in Berlin and focuses on low carbon investments especially around power, heat, energy storage, mobility and other decarbonization solutions. Prior to working for Shell Ventures, she worked as Operations Manager at Amazon in Germany and as Geoscientist and Opportunity Manager in Shell’s upstream gas business in the Netherlands. Julia holds an BSc in Mineral Resources Engineering from RWTH Aachen, an MSc in Geo-energy Engineering from TU Delft and an MBA from INSEAD.

Dr. Richard Riggs (CVC)
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Investment Manager
Aramco Ventures
https://aramcoventures.com
Richard Riggs joined Aramco Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of Aramco, in 2014. He is responsible for investments in industrial energy related technology companies within Europe, currently investing from Aramco Ventures recently launched Sustainability Fund. Prior to Aramco Ventures, Richard worked at BASF Venture Capital, and before that in various R&D positions within BASF. Richard has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland and is an alumni of the University of St. Gallen and INSEAD business schools.

Håkan Sjögren (Corporate)
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Managing Director, Global Listings Services
Nasdaq
http://www.nasdaqomxnordic.com
Håkan Sjögren is Managing Director and responsible for listings at Nasdaq Stockholm. Håkan has long experience in Listings and Capital Markets, and has worked at Nasdaq for more than 19 years. Before joining Nasdaq, Håkan held positions in FX trading and as broker in electricity derivatives.

Dr. Christoph Frei (VC)
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Partner
Emerald
https://emerald.vc
Christoph is a Partner at Emerald, leading the development of the Global Energy Transformation Alliance (GETalliance). Christoph is also a Professor and advisor to the President of the Swiss Federal Technical Institute in Lausanne (EPFL) and a member of the board of the Energy Web Foundation (EWF). Prior to joining Emerald Christoph was CEO and Secretary General of the World Energy Council (WEC) for ten years and before that Senior Director and member of the Executive Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in charge of Energy for nine years. At ease with strategic issues in the energy transformation context and recognised for his facilitation skills, Christoph regularly stimulates board and strategy meetings for leading energy and technology companies around the world and has a track record as facilitator of dialogue on behalf of governments and at international high-level events. In 2012, Christoph became a member of the high-level advisory group to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sustainable Energy for all. Christoph received his PhD es sc. from EPFL. He holds a diploma in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in energy economics & management, a master’s degree in econometrics and a master’s degree in applied ethics. His publications cover fields including energy scenarios, innovation, energy & climate policy, global energy governance, energy-water nexus, energy access and the future of utilities. His PhD thesis was awarded with the ABB Energy Research Award 2001.

Dr. Till Stenzel (VC)
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Partner
SET Ventures
http://www.setventures.com
Till joined SET Ventures as Venture Partner in 2021 and was promoted to Partner in June 2023. Focusing especially on the German-language (DACH) region, Till leverages almost 20 years of experience as an investor, entrepreneur, consultant, and executive and has developed a deep understanding of the levers for change in the energy sector. Till sits as a board member for SET portfolio company, Frequenz. Prior to SET Ventures, Till was a Managing Director at DTCP focusing on investments in the digital economy. Other previous engagements include corporate strategy work at E.ON, cleantech investments with Hazel Capital (now Gresham House New Energy), co-founding the first large-scale solar projects developer in Tunisia, and policy advisory work for the UK Government and Parliament, as well as with the International Energy Agency (IEA). Till holds an MSc and PhD from Imperial College, London, as well as a BSc from the London School of Economics. Till is a CFA Charterholder.

Matthew Chagan (VC)
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Partner
Sustainable Future Ventures
https://www.sfv.vc
Matthew Chagan is a Partner at Sustainable Future Ventures. Prior to joining SFV, Matt was a partner at Rich Products Ventures. Matthew has over 20 years of experience as a technology investor, most of which was spent in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to his role at Rich Products Ventures, he was previously a co-founder of Synapse Partners and a principal at Trident Capital. He has invested across Enterprise Software, FinTech, FoodTech, and ConsumerTech into companies such as Future Meat, BlueNalu, Nium, and Brightroll (acquired by Yahoo). He has also spent a number of years on the operations side of technology businesses, including corporate development leadership roles at Ripple, a San Francisco-based blockchain and financial technology company, and Opera, an Oslo-based consumer technology company. Matt began his career in technology investment banking at Bank of America and holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from Colgate University.

Philipp Göhre (VC)
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Partner Growth Capital
Haniel
https://www.haniel.de/portfolio/growth-capital/
Philipp leads the €600M Growth Capital initiative at Haniel. Since 2019, he has been responsible for the company’s cleantech-focused startup and fund investments. Prior to this role, he headed Strategy & Portfolio Management at Haniel for more than eight years. Philipp started his career at Deutsche Bank before joining UBS Investment Bank and later the M&A department of Ørsted, Denmark’s largest energy company. He holds a business administration degree from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management.

Aziz Rahim (CVC)
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Principal
Siemens Energy Ventures
https://www.siemens-energy.com/global/en/company/siemens-energy-ventures.html
As Principal of Siemens Energy Ventures, Aziz sets the framework to identify and onboard new startup technologies to help solve today’s key challenges in the energy industry. In this role he is particularly interested in investment opportunities in the climate tech and leads Siemens Energy’s Venture Client unit to pilot and adopt startup solutions. In his 5+ years within the Siemens Group, he held several leadership roles, in which he established global partnership networks, implemented the transfer of innovative technologies, and developed strategies for new business fields. In his role at Siemens Energy Ventures, Aziz is committed to turning today’s ideas into the reality of tomorrow by driving effective and meaningful partnerships between Siemens Energy and top global startups.

Markus Hökfelt (CVC)
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Investment Director
SEB Greentech
https://sebgroup.com/our-offering/financing-and-investment-banking/greentech
Prior to joining SEB, Markus was the first Fund Manager of Almi Invest Greentech started in 2017. Markus has an extensive operative experience in leadership positions working with international business development in the energy transition, e.g. Solar PVs, energy visualization, demand response and EV charging. Markus is the co-founder of Unimi Solutions and holds a Master of Science and Mechanical Engineering from Lund University. Currently Markus serves on the Board of Directors for CorPower Ocean and C-Green Technology, and as an observer in EnginZyme.

Stefan Sonnerstedt (CVC)
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Head of Startup Investments & Collaboration
Fortum
https://www.fortum.com/about-us/startup-collaboration
Stefan joined Fortum in April 2023 as head of Fortum’s startup investment team. Stefan has previously worked in senior positions within investment banking, FX and fixed income trading. He later switched to working for startups as an advisor and investor. Stefan is passionate about accelerating the energy transition and thinks helping innovative startups grow and develop is one of the best ways to do this. He enjoys supporting management teams to ensure clarity and execution of their growth strategy. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden but spends a lot of time with his Fortum colleagues in Finland. Stefan has a degree in Business Administration from Stockholm University.

Dr. Michael Richter (CVC)
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Senior Investment Manager
EWE
https://www.ewe.com/en/shaping-the-future/digitalisierung/venture-capital
Dr. Michael Richter works as a Senior Investment Manager at EWE, one of the leading utilities in Germany which wants to actively shape the energy transition. Michael has 5+ years of experience in the venture capital business and is responsible for strategic investments and the management of portfolio companies. He supports corporate strategy projects with his technological and business knowledge and is board member of portfolio startup Solandeo. Before, Michael spent 7+ years in science and product development at leading technology companies in the PV industry. Michael holds a Dipl. Ing. degree in renewable energy and a PhD in Physics.

Max ter Horst (Accelerator VC)
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Managing Partner
Rockstart Energy Fund
https://www.rockstart.com/energy/
Max is Managing Partner of Rockstart’s Energy Fund, offering early stage startups access to capital, market, expertise and community through a customized accelerator program and follow-on investments up to series B. Max is Dutch and based in Amsterdam. He has been active in renewable energy since 2003, when he helped Essent (currently RWE) to establish their wind business in Germany. As Director at EWT, the largest Dutch wind turbine manufacturer, he was responsible for corporate finance, business development and strategy. Further, he was co-founder and CEO of e-kite, a Dutch startup which developed kite power systems. Before entering the renewable energy sector, Max worked several years at McKinsey as Engagement Manager. He holds MSc degrees in Chemical Engineering at Delft University of Technology, Business Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam and an MBA from INSEAD.

Alexandre Braconnier (VC)
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Chief Investment Officer
Industrya
https://www.industrya.com
Alexandre is the Chief Investment Officer of Industrya, a VC fund based in Belgium, and focused on industrial startups. Before joining Industrya, Alexandre held various corporate finance and strategy positions, first in the cement and lime industry (Heidelberg Cement and Lhoist), and then in the investment banking industry (Degroof Petercam). He has been posted in Singapore when Heidelberg expanded its footprint in Asia. Later in his career he was posted in Canada to develop the presence of Degroof Petercam. Alexandre has a Msc in Management from UCLouvain and in Finance from Solvay.

Veery Maxwell (VC)
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Partner
Galvanize Climate Solutions
https://galvanizeclimate.com
Veery Maxwell is Partner and Co-Head of Innovation + Expansion at Galvanize Climate Solutions. She has spent her career focused on climate change, and is a deep believer in the virtuous cycle of markets, technology, and policy reinforcing each other to drive decarbonization. Previously, Veery was a Founding Partner at Ajax Investment Strategies, where she invested in technology companies solving climate change. She currently sits on the boards of Alcemy, Regrow Ag, The Routing Company, Trace Genomics, and Voltus. Additionally, she serves on the nonprofit boards of Clean Energy for America and CREO Syndicate. Prior to co-founding Ajax, Veery was a director at Energy Innovation managing a large climate philanthropy portfolio focused on supporting regulatory interventions to drive emissions out of the power, transport, and industrial sectors. Veery previously worked at Climateworks Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. Veery earned a J.D. from University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, and a B.A. from Georgetown University with a double major in finance and international business. Veery lives in Marin with her husband, children, and Norwich terrier.

Ines Kolmsee (VC)
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Partner
Matterwave Ventures
https://matterwave.vc
Ines Kolmsee is a Partner at Matterwave Ventures. Before Matterwave, she was on the Executive Board of Aperam SA, a stainless steel producer headquartered in Luxemburg. Prior to that, she was CTO at EWE AG, a German utility with a large renewables base. Before that, she was CEO at SKW Stahl-Metallurgie, a formerly private-equity owned company that she took public in 2006. She also co-founded a startup in the renewable energy space. Ines currently holds board positions in Umicore SA, Prysmian SPA, BORALEX Inc and Etex SA. Prior to that, she also served on the boards of Suez SA, Fuchs Petrolub SE and Deutsche Telekom SE. Ines holds a Master’s degree in Process and Energy Engineering from TU Berlin, a diploma from the Ecole des Mines de St.Etienne as well as an MBA from INSEAD. Ines’ investment focus is energy, resource efficiency and climate tech.

Janneke Bik (VC)
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Partner
SHIFT Invest
https://shiftinvest.com
Janneke is a Partner at SHIFT invest and has been with the fund since its inception more than 13 years ago. She is dedicated to help entrepreneurs accelerate their impact towards a more sustainable world. Janneke does so by setting high standards for the companies she works with; she strives for accelerated growth through the SHIFT scaling up approach based on the fund’s lessons learned from over 50 early-stage investments in ambitious impact ventures. Within SHIFT she leads the energy transition team and has led multiple investments in the past year. Examples are Whiffle, a hyper local weather forecasting and Zero Friction, a customer service platform for district heating, where Janneke is part of the supervisory board. She also was closely involved with energy platform Vandebron that was acquired by Essent. Janneke joined SHIFT after working in space engineering (ESA) and strategy consulting (McKinsey).

Marine Glon (VC)
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Investment Director
Supernova Invest
https://supernovainvest.com/en/
Marine Glon is Investment Director at Supernova Invest. Marine joined the team in 2017 is responsible for the energy and environment sector. From 2012 to 2017, Marine was responsible for the Investments for the Future Program (circular economy, waste recycling and recovery, water, and biodiversity) at ADEME (France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency). She helped select and fund more than 100 innovative companies, distributing more than €150 million. Before that, she was a strategy consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), specializing in the energy and insurance sectors. She participated in the launch of the I Care & Consult (conseil en énergie et environnement).
Marine is a graduate of ESSEC. Marine is on the boards of Adionics, Ethera, Sylfen, PowerUp, Extracthive and BeFC.

Dr. Jobst von Hoyningen-Huene
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Co-CEO
Econnext
https://econnext.eu
Jobst von Hoyningen-Huene is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Econnext. Prior to co-founding Econnext, Jobst worked for Deutsche Bank as Managing Director and Head of Financial Institutions Group Germany. Focus: corporate finance and advisory work for clients in the German home market and Switzerland. Jobst has executed M&A, equity capital markets (IPOs and follow-ons) as well as debt transactions. Further, Jobst during his time at Deutsche Bank served as coordinator of the “German Energiewende” task force. This Corporate Banking & Securities‘ task force prioritized and bundled various business initiatives addressing the challenges related to the focus on renewable energy production and transmission in Germany. Also, he facilitated the Eye Fund I (closing 2010) sponsored by IAPB and Ashoka. Jobst holds postgraduate degrees from the Universities of Hamburg (doctoral dissertation), Stellenbosch/South Africa (LL.M), London School of Economics (MSc) as well as Dresden (first qualifying law exam).

Moritz Engelmann (VC)
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Investment Manager
Blueworld Group
https://blueworld.group/en
Moritz is an Investment Manager at blueworld.group. With a heart for technological progress and innovation blueworld.group’s area of activity is investing, developing and optimizing. blueworld.group acts as an investor and innovator for ambitious growth companies and new sustainable business models in a wide range of industries. As part of the investment team Moritz is responsible for portfolio investments in growth companies in Series A and B financing rounds. Previously, Moritz worked as an advisor with a focus on company transactions and valuations. Moritz holds a Master in Finance from IE Business School and a Bachelor in Management from EBS Universität für Wirtschaft & Recht.

Dr. Andreas Sedlmayr (Startup)
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Co-CEO
Instagrid
https://www.instagrid.co
Andreas Sedlmayr is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of instagrid, which is on a mission to liberate clean mobile energy. After receiving an engineering degree with KIT, Andreas eventually went on to pursue his PhD in materials science, where he worked on nanoscale materials for battery technology. Driven by the desire to make cutting-edge technology commercially available, Andreas joined Robert Bosch corporation in 2012, where he held various positions along the battery value chain. Amongst other management positions, he was in charge to set-up an aftermarket concept for the first traction battery in Europe, China and the US. After founding and driving an corporate Start-up in medical technology, Andreas moved on to manage the battery development for one of the world’s largest power tool companies. Together with his long-time colleague and friend Sebastian Berning he made a leap of faith in 2018 to found instagrid, convinced that there was a substantial unmet need for clean energy solutions in mobile applications. At instagrid, Andreas is heading the commercial and operational side of the company’s groundbreaking stacked-inverter battery technology, helping customers to retire combustion engines in many non-road applications.

Dr. Davor Sutija (Startup)
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CEO
NexWafe
https://www.nexwafe.com
Dr. Davor Sutija is the CEO of NexWafe and joined the company in August 2020 to assist with the company’s anticipated capital raise. Davor is an experienced executive with a focus on commercializing technology through new product introduction and international go-to-market execution. Davor was co-founder and CEO of SiNor AS, together with Alf Bjørseth and Reidar Langmo. SiNor, the sister company of ScanWafer in REC, produced single crystal Si ingots for photovoltaic applications and arsenic-doped n-type ingots for discrete electronics. After REC, SiNor continued operations as Norwegian Crystals. Davor has nine years of experience as a public market CEO from Thinfilm, which pioneered NFC mobile marketing solutions using printed electronics. Under his leadership, Thinfilm received the 2012 CNN/Time World Technology Award, the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award, as well as the 2018 Printed Electronics Manufacturing Award, and was awarded an invited keynote at Moble World Congress 2015. Prior to Thinfilm, Davor was SVP Enterprise Products at FAST, when it was acquired by Microsoft for 1.3 Billion USD. Davor serves on the KLA Orbotech Advisory Board, and has been non-executive director at technology companies Cegal, SensoNor, Comperio, Owera, and Birdstep. Dr. Sutija is a graduate of the Jerome Fisher Management and Technology program at Wharton, and holds M.S./Ph.D. Chemical Engineering degrees from UC Berkeley, where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow.

David Bryon (Startup)
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CFO
First Light Fusion
https://firstlightfusion.com
With diverse industry and spinout experience, David brings deep hands-on financial, commercial, and operational expertise to First Light Fusion. Tech startups are a natural fit for his skills, where his insights and leadership allow his teams to make hard things possible. Following a career in both large corporates and SMEs, David held CFO and CEO roles in an Oxford University spin-out. He has also run a consultancy, Right Brain Finance, supporting technology startups as they raised money and grew their businesses. First Light Fusion was one of these clients, where he joined the Board in 2015 and has since been deeply involved in all non-technical aspects of the business, from the fundraising to the challenges of scale up. David holds a BA in Geography, MSc in Psychology and is a CIMA associate.

Andreas Thorsheim (Listed Startup)
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CEO
Otovo
https://www.otovo.com
Andreas Thorsheim is the CEO and co-founder of Otovo, Europe’s leading marketplace for residential solar and batteries. Before founding Otovo in 2016, Andreas found himself working as a business journalist and editor before becoming a C-suite newspaper executive, overseeing mass structural change at one of Norway’s leading newspapers, Bergens Tidende, helping lead it through a successful regeneration. Andreas is currently a board member of Equality Check (a platform for anonymous, crowdsourced reviews about equality in the workplace) and PatientSky (offering innovative IT solutions for patients and healthcare practitioners). Previously, he was a board member of the leading Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, Norwegian state lottery operator, Norsk Tipping, and Teknologirådet (the Norwegian Board of Technology, the Norwegian parliament’s technology advisory council).

Melchior Schulze Brock (Startup)
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CEO
Enviria
https://enviria.energy/en
Melchior Schulze Brock is the founder and CEO of ENVIRIA. ENVIRIA is the leading startup in Germany specializing in B2B solar, offering innovative solar-centric solutions and scalable Energy-as-a-Service concepts. Melchior founded ENVIRIA in 2017 motivated by the conviction that solar should be radically easy, commercially attractive and rapidly attainable for businesses. With almost 100 employees, ranging from financial experts to own inhouse operational units, the company has developed more than 100 commercial projects and continues its exponential growth towards becoming a decentralized renewable energy utility in its own right. Melchior holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Economics from Aston University, UK and has experience in investment banking at BNP Paribas (France), Deutsche Bank (UK) and Barclays Capital (Germany).

Dr. Michael Peters (Startup)
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CEO
Sunvigo
https://www.sunvigo.de
Michael Peters is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Sunvigo. Jointly with Bastian Bauwens and Vigen Nikogosian he launched Sunvigo in 2020 with the mission to radically simplify the access of end consumers to roof-top solar power. With its solar-as-a-service product Sunvigo is building the foundation for an interconnected Green Power Community in Europe that accelerates the energy transition in the building sector. Michael installed his first solar PV rooftop system in 2001. Ever since his purpose is to contribute to the renewable energy revolution. He holds a PhD from ETH Zurich on solar technology & innovation. During his 10 years with McKinsey he advised utilities and technology providers on business building in the renewable power sector.

Jürgen Mayerhofer (Startup)
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CEO
Enspired
https://www.enspired-trading.com
Jürgen is co-founder and CEO of enspired, a fully digital energy trading company with global ambitions. Before enspired, he was the CEO of VisoTech, a leading algorithmic trading software vendor that TMX / Trayport acquired. Jürgen has 20 years of experience in the energy industry with a strong focus on technology. He firmly believes that the way energy is traded will soon change drastically – at enspired, there is no room for trading screens and human intervention. Jürgen is passionate about using the newest technology to accelerate the transition to green energy. He is a Stanford LEAD alumni and holds an MBA in energy management.

Erik van Wijk (Startup)
https://ecosummit.net/uploads/erikvanwijk.jpg
CTO
Energyworx
http://www.energyworx.com
Erik is CTO of Energyworx. He is a highly motivated co-founder and IT professional with a decade of experience in cloud technologies, combined with great knowledge of the energy industry. Erik co-founded Energyworx to help utilities unlock the value of data and make data-driven decisions.

Christoph Gardlo (Startup)
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COO
ESFORIN
https://www.esforin.com/en/
Christoph Gardlo is Co-Founder and COO of ESFORIN (Energy Services for Industry). The company’s core business is algorithm trading in intraday markets with clients’ flexibilities – helping companies to optimize energy costs and reduce significant amounts of CO2 by integrating more renewable generation into the grid. Before becoming an independent energy entrepreneur, Christoph gained profound experience in the energy markets in various companies. In the 2000s he joined E.ON in various positions on the gas side, focussed on large industrial and power plant accounts. In 2010 he joined Cargill as Head of Gas Sales Germany before moving to natGAS AG as their Head of Key Accounts Portfolioservices & International Sales. In 2014/2015 Christian Hövelhaus and Christoph Gardlo launched ESFORIN.

Rod Macgregor (Startup)
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CEO
GlassPoint
https://www.glasspoint.com
Rod was the founding CEO of GlassPoint in 2009. For more than three decades, he has led global companies across the United States, Europe, China and the Middle East. Rod’s companies have partnered with a range of multinational corporations in the energy and technologies industries, including Royal Dutch Shell, AT&T, Intel and Volkswagen. His first company, Insignia Solutions Ltd., received the Queen of England’s award for technical achievement and the Queen’s award for export achievement, and subsequently went public on NASDAQ. He has founded three other venture capital-backed high tech companies.

Gregg Rotenberg (Startup)
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CEO
Kairos Aerospace
https://kairosaerospace.com
Gregg is a 20-year veteran of the cleantech industry that is relentlessly focused on the big picture and believes businesses win or lose based on the quality of their teams and the clarity and passion with which the team pursues their goals. Gregg leads Kairos Aerospace, which flies airplanes over oil and gas assets and identifies where methane is leaking into the atmosphere. Kairos is paid a subscription by oil and gas customers that secure incremental revenue by fixing the emission source and capturing revenue from the gas that otherwise would have been lost. Kairos is the global leader in mitigating methane emissions, helping operators to maximize profits from the leak mitigation efforts and prove with the industry’s only accurate benchmark how their methane emissions compare to those of their industry peers. Gregg was previously an operating partner at Energy Innovation Capital and the CEO of Smart Wires (Nasdaq-Smart Wires Technology SDB), a company that completed its public offering in 2021. Smart Wires won “Grid Innovation of the Decade” by the World Economic Forum. Prior to Smart Wires, Gregg ran the Renewable Power Group at Chevron, which produced earnings that exceeded Chevron’s targets by 300% and produced investment returns of 30% annually. At Chevron, Gregg led the EPC and investment of 200 MW of utility-scale solar and geothermal projects. Prior to Chevron, Gregg co-led the development of a new energy consulting practice at one of the world’s largest energy firms. Gregg was also a Co-Founder of Keystone Strategy, a consulting firm launched by three Harvard Business School professors that works with most of the world’s most valuable technology firms. Gregg holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School, graduating magna cum laude, and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School, graduating with highest honors.

Hermann Stockinger (Startup)
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CEO
Easelink
https://easelink.com
Hermann as founder and CEO of Easelink is an entrepreneur fully dedicated to shaping a sustainable future and facilitating e-mobility at scale. Easelink is a European high-tech company that focuses on the development of sustainable automated charging technology for electric vehicles. Hermann studied in Austria, England and Mexico holding a master’s degree in Energy- and Environmental Engineering and Business Economics. Starting his automotive career at BMW Group Munich he soon began his visionary work in the field of e-mobility. With his passion in environmental engineering and a vision for an e- mobility concept, he founded Easelink in 2016. His and the company’s vision is to set an automated and globally standardized charging system, with the so-called Matrix Charging® technology, for high-volume vehicle models in place. To implement a global Matrix Charging® standard, Hermann together with his global team is working with leading international automotive and supplier companies on the basis of licensing models. The licensees can market the system independently, which enables the best possible scaling of the technology and business model across manufacturers.

Francesco Taiariol (Startup)
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CEO
Tau
https://tau.group
Francesco Taiariol is Co-Founder and CEO of Tau Group. Francesco is an entrepreneur combining his background in mechanical engineering (MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino & CentraleSupelec), and a proven track record as an inventor, with a clear business and leadership vision for Tau’s continued development. Alongside his co-founders, Francesco is leading Tau Group to become the industry standard in sustainable, high-performance magnet wire for automotive and energy industries.

Yüksel Sirmasac (Startup)
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CEO
Rockethome
http://rockethome.de/en
Yüksel Sirmasac is CEO and Founder of Rockethome. The IT and media enthusiast holds an M.B.A degree from Uni of Cologne and has more than 15 years of experience in the internet, media and IT business. As a serial entrepreneur, he has founded several start-ups and has grown them to success on the market. Before founding ROCKETHOME, Yüksel was an executive for the RTL media group, ReedElservier and the Handelsblatt publishing group. Yüksel Sirmasac is deeply convinced that Smart Home, Climate Solutions and Internet-of-Things in real estate are the mega trends of the coming years.

Emma Kinell (Startup)
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COO
Mimbly
https://www.mimbly.se
Emma Kinell is the COO of Mimbly and has been making impact in the Nordic tech scene for over 10 years. Mimbly is a cleantech company who designs and develops laundry solutions for sustainable futures. Their innovation, the Mimbox, saves water, energy, and reduces microplastic pollution.

Johan Sandberg (Startup)
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CEO
SeaTwirl
https://seatwirl.com
Johan Sandberg has worked with offshore wind power since 2008 and has been especially focused on floating wind turbine technology. He spent almost 12 years in DNV where he – among other things – had global responsibility for offshore renewables advisory services, responsibility for developing the world’s first design standard for floating wind turbines, and the world’s only guideline for integrating offshore wind with offshore oil & gas assets. In 2019 Johan joined the Norwegian industry conglomerate Aker and as Head of Business Development in Aker Offshore Wind, and since March 2023 he is the CEO of Swedish floating wind technology developer SeaTwirl.

Anna Altner (Startup)
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CEO
Yangi
https://www.yangi.se
In 2014, Anna Altner founded The Loop Factory, an innovation hub pioneering sustainable solutions and circular initiatives within materials, products, and technology. Emerging from 10 years of R&D within The Loop Factory, Yangi, a revolutionary manufacturing technology and next-generation fibre-based solutions was developed and launched in 2021. Anna has over 20 years of experience leading disruptive innovation projects in the forest industry and has since successfully established both companies as international innovation partners for sustainable technologies. She believes that to innovate, you must collaborate. Designed to meet circular principles, Yangi is a turn-key manufacturing technology for cellulose-based packaging based on dry forming principles, enabling a cost- and resource-efficient solution. Join Anna Altner, Founder of Yangi and The Loop Factory as she outlines the key environmental benefits of dry forming technology and explain why this new technology is so disruptive.

Peter Ringstad (Startup)
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CEO
Ligna Energy
https://lignaenergy.se
Peter has worked for leading global companies in management positions such as Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery as Manager R&D Process and Quality, and at ABB as a Development Project Leader. As of 2019, Peter is CEO of Ligna Energy – building an impact company for green and sustainable storage of energy. Peter has 20+ years of experience in project leadership and management with a strong engineering background. Throughout his career, he has gained experience working with different working cultures from across Europe and North America. Peter holds a Lic Eng in Mechanical Engineering.

Patrik Möller (Startup)
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CEO
CorPower Ocean
https://www.corpowerocean.com
Patrik Möller is CEO and Co-Founder of CorPower Ocean. CorPower enables reliable and cost-effective harvesting of clean electricity from ocean waves. He is Co-President of Ocean Energy Europe and on the European Energy Commissioner’s Clean Energy Industry Forum (CEIF). Patrik is a passionate entrepreneur with experience of building deeptech companies.

Anna Björklou (Startup)
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CEO
Epishine
https://www.epishine.com
With previous extensive and valuable expertise in several global industrial manufacturing industries Anna has a solid foundation to scale up businesses. Anna has been the CEO of Epishine since 2020 with a significant focus on scaling up the firm in all aspects, including creating a strong market, cutting-edge R&D in organic photovoltaics, industrialization, and operational excellence.

Michael Peither (Startup)
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CTO
VoltStorage
http://voltstorage.com
Michael Peither is Co-Founder and CTO of VoltStorage – a company focused on building safe, long-lasting and affordable storage solutions for private households and businesses with solar panels. After some stations within BMW in Germany and the US, he briefly was part of another startup before he co-founded VoltStorage. In 2016, he and his team were part of HAX, the world’s biggest Hardware Accelerator located in Shenzhen, China. Since then, the team has grown to more than 25 people, set up operations of VoltStorage in Munich and producing their storage solution in series, with their automated production unit and global supply chain. Michael holds a MSc degree from the Technical University of Munich in Industrial Engineering and gained several innovation awards, including being named “Innovator under 35” in 2018 by the renowned MIT Technology Review.

Chris McGrath (Startup)
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CEO
5B
https://5b.co
In 2013, 5B arose from Chris’ passion to accelerate the global transition to clean energy. Chris’ vision has grown 5B from a small startup to a global organisation, hosting award-winning technology. As Chief Executive Officer, Chris has a strong focus on developing cutting-edge technology that reduces the cost of renewable energy. Under his leadership, our team has reinvented the solar supply chain to simplify how projects are delivered, with fewer materials, lightning-fast deployment, and streamlined logistics. After graduating with 1st class honors in Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW, Chris and 5B co-founder Eden Tehan designed and installed a micro-hydropower system for the remote Vanuatu village, Imaki. Chris then founded ‘Solar Fields’, where he worked with government, communities and the private sector on various projects from early-stage development through to delivery. His prior experience at Infigen Energy as Development Manager prepared him to inspire and lead our team at 5B. Chris is an avid explorer of the natural world. He is a tech diver, a rock climber, and enjoys nothing more than a good adventure with great friends.

Emanuel Heisenberg (Startup)
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CEO
Ecoworks
https://www.ecoworks.tech
Emanuel Heisenberg is Co-founder and CEO of Ecoworks, a startup that automates planning and industrializes renovation to enable the housing and construction industry to decarbonize the European building stock. Prior to Ecoworks, he founded and managed startups in the renewable energy sector. Emanuel Heisenberg advises the German government in heat and decentralized energy policies and publishes articles & books on energy & climate. He holds a Master’s degree from Cambridge University.

Knut Hechtfischer (Startup)
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CEO
Decarbon1ze
https://www.decarbon1ze.com/en/
Knut is Co-Founder and CEO of Decarbon1ze. Previously, he co-founded Ubitricity and successfully sold it to Shell. Knut is a regulatory lawyer and studied law at FU Berlin.

Thomas Reinertsen (Startup)
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CEO
Hydrogen Mem-Tech
https://hydrogen-mem-tech.com
Thomas Reinertsen is CEO of Hydrogen Mem-Tech since June 2017. He has 22 years experience from different management positions, incl. building and managing fabrication yards and on-/offshore installation. He is active as board member in several companies and holds a BSc in Process Engineering from University of Aberdeen.

Nicolas Chabannes (Startup)
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CFO
GravitHy
https://gravithy.eu
Nicolas is the CFO of GravitHy. He has more than fifteen years experience in the financial sector with a strong focus on the energy transition and capex intensive projects. He started his career working for an investment bank on the debt side of project financings. Then he joined during several years an industrial consortium of the energy sector to structure and secure a €1.7B financing. After this experience he occupied a CFO position in a startup before joining Total Energies as Finance manager of the offshore wind activities.

Dr. Caroline Rozain (Startup)
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General Manager
Sylfen
https://sylfen.com/en/home/
Caroline Rozain is the co-founder and General Manager of Sylfen, a French deeptech company that offers innovative solutions for energy management. Sylfen uses energy storage technologies to create a global hydrogen turnkey solution for the market and make renewable energy more reliable. After earning her engineering degree and PhD in Electrochemistry, Caroline Rozain chose to take on the challenge of being an entrepreneur. Determined to participate in building an intelligent network on multiple scales, she has since undertaken various missions in both technical and business capacities, driving the development of Sylfen to become an international innovation partner for sustainable technologies. She believes in the power of collaboration to drive innovation. The Sylfen hub is designed to store and distribute energy, providing an inclusive and sustainable solution.

Dr. Mamoun Taher (Startup)
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CEO
Graphmatech
https://graphmatech.com
An awards winning deep tech founder, Mamoun acts as CEO and CTO of Graphmatech in Sweden. Leading a passionate and high performing team enabling the green transition with graphene, the Noble Prize winning and the world’s most promising material. The upcycling of Li-ion batteries black mass waste into graphene, reducing hydrogen gas leakage by more than 60 % and improving batteries performance by more than 80 % are not science fiction, they are technical breakthroughs accomplished by passionate team for revolutionizing the energy and electrification sectors. Converting technical breakthroughs into commercial values is even more exciting. Before Graphmatech, Mamoun worked in the advanced materials technology sector at ABB and Uppsala University. The passion for solving complicated climate challenges through innovation and leadership is the driving force for Mamoun to leap the extra miles to come.

Andres Anijalg (Startup)
https://ecosummit.net/uploads/andresanijalg.jpg
CEO
Roofit Solar
https://roofit.solar
Andres Anijalg is Co-Founder and CEO of Roofit Solar Energy. He has been active in the power industry since 2007 as the head of international development projects at the Estonian national energy company Enefit. Enefit is the biggest energy and renewable energy producer in Baltics. His key responsibility was the 570MW greenfield power plant development in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where he acted as the Project Director and the CEO of the project company. The massive $2.1B project reached its Financial Close in 2017. Andres has been also working almost 10 years at Swedbank branch in Estonia. He holds his MBA degree from the University of Tartu and has been studying as an exchange student at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Dr. Marcus Salewski (Startup)
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CFO
Ecoligo
http://www.ecoligo.com
Marcus is a seasoned finance professional with more than 10 years of experience in scaling startups and the strategic development of established companies. He started his career at Ernst & Young in Berlin where he advised financial and corporate clients on financial and strategic matters in complex transactions, including in the energy sector. He went on to the family business MBB where he was part of the team that successfully IPO’d e-mobility specialist Aumann AG in 2017. After that, he was active as CFO at Berlin-based tech startup Lofelt, where he was responsible for the acquisition by Meta (Facebook). In 2023, Marcus joined Ecoligo, the leading impact investment provider that implements solar-as-a-service projects in emerging markets. Marcus holds a diploma in Business Administration from FU Berlin and a PhD in International Accounting from HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management. He is also an author of numerous publications on International Accounting.

Dr. Ernesto Garnier (Startup)
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CEO
Einhundert
https://einhundert.de/en/
Ernesto is the Founder and CEO of EINHUNDERT Energie GmbH in Cologne, Germany. Before EINHUNDERT, he spent 6+ years with the Boston Consulting Group, helping leading European utilities launch business models around smart meters and distributed energy technology. Ernesto also holds a PhD in Energy Economics from RWTH Aachen, having conducted research on virtual power plants and solar power market integration. His educational experience includes an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Business from the Rotterdam School of Management / University of Southern California. Other than cleantech, Ernesto is passionate about politics, Basketball and (Latin) music.

Dr. Christian Chudoba (Startup)
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CEO
Lumenaza
http://www.lumenaza.de
Christian Chudoba is Co-Founder and CEO of Lumenaza. He has held leading roles in business management, strategy, business development and marketing for 15 years. For a corporate company he developed a new business concept for mobile applications and led the implementation from a small internal startup to a sizable new business area. Christian holds a PhD in Physics and worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) prior to moving to the software business.

Dr. Tim Breker (Startup)
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CEO
Vytal
https://en.vytal.org
Tim is Co-Founder & Managing Director of Vytal pushing the transition from a linear to a circular economy by offering reusable packaging-as-a-service. In line with the sharing economy more than 6.500 restaurants, canteens, supermarkets as well as hundreds of thousands of consumers share high quality reusable VYTAL food containers, thereby separating the convenient consumption of takeaway and delivery food from packaging waste. Tim studied Business at WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management as well as Public Policy in Berlin and completed a PhD in Social-Cognitive Psychology. He is a former BCG Consultant who is passionate about using entrepreneurship and business to create impact for society.

Janice Goodenough (Startup)
https://ecosummit.net/uploads/janicegoodenough.jpg
CEO
Hydrogrid
https://hydrogrid.eu
Janice Goodenough is the CEO of Hydrogrid, which offers a digitalisation solution for the optimal control & dispatch of hydro power plants. She holds an MSc from Vienna University of Technology (Applied Mathematics), has more than 10 years management experience in the energy industry (i.a. at Austria’s largest hydro power producer), is a member of the board at the German Chamber of Commerce in Austria and leads the Technical University of Vienna’s Alumni Club Energy Circle.

James Johnston (Startup)
https://ecosummit.net/uploads/jamesjohnston.jpg
CEO
Piclo
https://www.piclo.energy
Piclo Flex is a leading independent marketplace that brings together flex providers with system operators to procure local flexibility services. James Johnston is the CEO and Co-founder of Piclo, the world’s leading independent grid flexibility marketplace. Prior to Piclo, James spent 3 years researching microgrids at University of Strathclyde. James is also the founder of Solar Sketch, a design company for the solar industry and worked at international engineering firm Arup. James is a published author contributing chapters to Academic Press books on peer-to-peer energy and local flexibility trading.

Matthias Martensen (Startup)
https://ecosummit.net/uploads/matthiasmartensen.jpg
CEO
Ostrom
https://www.ostrom.de/?lang=en
Matthias is one of the co-founders and the CEO of Ostrom, which is building the leading B2C energy management platform in Europe. He has over 6 years of experience in energy trading, operations and strategy, most recently with the global consulting firm Oliver Wyman. He specialized in digitization and analytics in the energy industry, leading to his decision to found Ostrom. Matthias holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business from WHU and a Master’s degree from UCL.

Polina Vasilenko (Startup)
https://ecosummit.net/uploads/polinavasilenko.jpg
CEO
HelioRec
https://www.heliorec.com
Polina is a passionate environmental entrepreneur, with two Master’s degrees in Chemistry and Renewable Energy (Ocean) and active as a mentor in Women in Tech. As an active traveler (68 countries) and scuba-diver (100 m), Polina saw many beautiful places ruined by negative anthropogenic impacts, and based on her personal experience and internal feelings, she decided to change her career’s path from the “black” side of fossil fuel to the “green” side of renewable energy. After a successful 14-year career in the oil and gas industry (ex-Schlumberger), Polina decided to make a fundamental career change and do something useful for the planet. Both her training and vast working experience led her to found HelioRec. HelioRec is an innovative startup in the field of floating solar technologies. Polina is a Techstars Alumni and received Ocean Tribute Award and the Women in GreenTech Award.

Alejandro Cabrera Muñoz (Startup)
https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alejandrocabreramunoz.jpg
CEO
Green Eagle Solutions
https://greeneaglesolutions.com
Alejandro Cabrera Muñoz is Co-founder and CEO of Green Eagle Solutions, an international and rapidly growing tech company that offers software solutions to the renewable energy sector. Alejandro is an IT engineer who started his career in the renewable industry more than 15 years ago. With a forward-thinking and challenger spirit, he founded Green Eagle Solutions to revolutionize the way renewable energies are operated. Alejandro and his team have demonstrated the potential of Robotic Process Automation to make renewables more scalable and speed up the transition to a more sustainable energy system.

Dr. Abdelkrim Benamar (Startup)
https://ecosummit.net/uploads/abdelkrimbenamar.jpg
CEO
PowerUp
https://powerup-technology.com
Dr. Abdelkrim Benamar is the President & CEO of PowerUp and joined the company in November 2021 to drive the next phase of its development. Before joining PowerUp, he served since May 2018 as Vice President – Service Assurance, Systems and Services of EXFO where he was responsible for the overall product and services portfolio for telecommunication network monitoring and analytics. He took this position as the result of the acquisition by EXFO of Astellia where Dr. Benamar successively held the positions of COO (July 2015) and CEO (June 2016). He previously held several executive roles at Alcatel-Lucent including Vice President EMEA, CEO Alcatel-Lucent International, and Vice President Global Head of Financial Analysis and Risk Assessment. He has also worked for leading telecom companies such as Ericsson Group (2000–2007), Motorola (1996–2000) and Alcatel Mobile Phones (1993-1996), in areas such as R&D, Communications & Public Affairs, Strategy and Sales. Mr. Benamar holds an engineering degree from Telecom SudParis (France) and a PhD in electrical engineering from Université Paris-Saclay (France).

Paul Drennan-Durose (Startup)
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CEO
Carbon8
https://www.carbon8.co.uk
Paul was appointed by the VC investors of Carbon8 as CEO in April 2023. Paul brings significant commercial, strategic, tactical and transformation experience to lead the evolution and scale-up of Carbon8 globally. Prior to joining Carbon8, Paul was the CEO of a London AIM Stock Exchange listed Group – waste to hydrogen technology. Before this role he was the Private Equity appointed CEO of a cleantech technology manufacturer – he led the technology, operational and commercial transformation, scale-up, and successful divestment. For 20+ years Paul has led VC, mid and lower-mid market private equity backed companies as well as listed companies across a range of industrial sectors globally.

Matthias Karger (Startup)
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CEO
Node.energy
https://www.node.energy
Matthias Karger is the Founder and CEO of Node.energy, based in Frankfurt am Main. Matthias is one of the thought leaders in the energy industry. In 2010, he co-founded Terajoule Energy GmbH, which later became Clean Energy Sourcing AG (CLENS) – one of the leading European companies for the marketing of electricity from renewable energies. At CLENS, as Director Business Development and Managing Director of several subsidiaries, he was responsible for an annual turnover of more than €150M as well as the development and operation of one of the world’s first and largest virtual power plants for the marketing of electricity and flexibility from decentralized power plants. At the end of 2016, he founded Node.energy GmbH to enable companies to switch to renewable energies. As Managing Director, he is responsible for strategy, human resources and finance. Matthias holds a degree in Business Administration and studied at the University of Cologne, the University of St. Gallen (HSG, Switzerland) and the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB, USA). In his life before the energy industry, Matthias was a player in the German national beach volleyball team and is still a passionate athlete.

Ulf Stenerhag (Startup)
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CEO
Wayout
https://wayout.com
Ulf has 25 years of experience in leading multinational industrial organizations. Clients include Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Novo Nordisk, Lundbeck and Fermion. In 2019, Ulf sold his company since 20 years, Thurne Teknik, to Addtech, a public company listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. He is educated at The Royal Institute of Technology with a MSc degree within Engineering and Business Management. Ulf has a passion for music in all forms and outdoor activities such as high altitude hiking, fly fishing and skiing. Ulf has over the last 15 years been engaged in several NGOs and organizations and in panels for intergovernmental exchange. Since 2018 founder and CEO of Wayout, a revolutionizing innovation company that solves multiple challenges around the supply of safe drinking water. Ulf also founded the charity organization Not For Sale Beers and is a co-founder of African Bureau of Music.

Carsten Brinkschulte (Startup)
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CEO
Dryad Networks
https://www.dryad.net
Telecoms tech veteran and serial entrepreneur Carsten Brinkschulte is Co-Founder and CEO of impact tech startup Dryad Networks. The firm’s large-scale IoT network for the ultra-early detection of wildfires will help to save the world’s forests and fight climate change. Carsten’s 20 years in mobile network infrastructure includes three successful exits: Core Network Dynamics (acquired by Twilio), Movirtu (acquired by Blackberry) and Synchronica (acquired by DAT Group).

Nicholas Simmons (Startup)
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CFO
Naked Energy
https://www.nakedenergy.co.uk
Nick is a chartered accountant with a track record of building high-growth international businesses. He started his career at Arthur Andersen in London and Geneva and went on to work with businesses operating in entertainment, media, travel and retail. He was part of the team that successfully launched Yahoo! Europe. Passionate about sustainability and startups he co-founded Naked Energy to address the urgent need for the provision of clean and affordable heat in the built environment.

Hervé Huisman (Startup)
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CEO
Gradyent
https://www.gradyent.ai
Hervé is CEO and Co-founder of Gradyent, which develops digital solutions for the optimization and decarbonization of heating networks. Before founding Gradyent Hervé built an international supply chain team at ASML and worked as a consultant at McKinsey, where he served international energy companies on strategic topics.

Jeroen Koot (Startup)
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CEO
Heaten
https://www.heaten.com
Jeroen joined Heaten AS as CEO in February 2023 to accelerate Heaten’s growth strategy as a leader in decarbonizing industrial heating processes with Heat Pumps saving energy and carbon footprint. Jeroen is very driven by business models that have a sound financial business case and additionally have climate impact. He has over 30 years of industrial experience as an international executive in the various sectors Heaten is targeting: chemicals, food, and energy. Koot has a strong background in scaling technology and business. He has worked with VCs, and private equity funds, helping them to develop opportunities and grow their business. Jeroen Koot has a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD.

Jewgeni Elster (Startup)
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CFO
Home Power Solutions
https://www.homepowersolutions.de/en/
Jewgeni Elster is the CFO of Home Power Solutions. He has more than ten years of relevant management experience in the financial sector of various energy companies. Before HPS, Jewgeni was CFO at Saferay Holding, a photovoltaic company. He was CFO for several years at Dornier Consulting International GmbH in Berlin, an international consulting company of the Airbus Group for mobility, environment and infrastructure. Leading energy trading and risk management position preceded this at Vattenfall in Hamburg. The business administration graduate and Energy Management MBA holder started his professional career in 2006 at the corporate consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers in Frankfurt and Berlin, followed by senior positions in risk management at HSH Nordbank AG, Hamburg, an international financing specialist in the field of renewable energies, transportation and real estate.

Johannes Burgard (Startup)
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CEO
Solytic
https://www.solytic.com
Johannes is Founder and CEO at Solytic, a cleantech software company from Germany. He is responsible for business strategy, finance, operations and data analytics. Prior to founding Solytic, Johannes worked as project engineer in international corporations like CLAAS (manufacturer, agriculture) and Airbus (manufacturer, aerospace), being responsible for global automation projects in production environment and supply chain management. Before starting his corporate career, he worked as a researcher in production technologies at the RWTH Aachen University. Johannes holds an MBA from Esade Business School and a Dipl.-Ing. (MSc) in Mechanical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University.

Stephen Prince (Startup)
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CEO
Vutility
https://vutility.com
Vutility is the leading provider of real-time, IoT and cloud enabled energy management solutions. By providing greater visibility into energy use, Vutility enables organizations to make better informed decisions to optimize their performance and reduce energy costs, achieve sustainability goals, and generate revenues with real time insights. Prior to joining Vutility, Stephen served in roles as CEO and President at leading energy technology and services organizations, including Centrica Business Solutions NA, Younicos and Optisense Network where he consistently increased commercial adoption through global expansion and the growth of partnership structures. He has additionally held executive leadership roles globally at organizations such as Oracle, Largo, and Edison International.

Erwin van Laethem (Startup)
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CCO
Scone
https://scone.ai
Erwin van Laethem heads the business/partnership development activities at Scone.ai. This fast growing climate tech venture leverages demand management, behavioural science and artificial intelligence to carve a personalised #PathToZero. Prior to Scone.ai Erwin held several international CEO/CCO/CDO positions in the field of energy transition, where he led digital transformation, developed disruptive climate tech business models and established innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, Berlin, London & Tel Aviv. Erwin believes that collective human and machine intelligence stands the best chance to address the climate challenge humanity faces, and that collaborative ecosystems are the norm. Erwin is an Electrical & Electronics Engineer, holds an MBA Marketing/Finance & Risk, did fundamental research in Medical Imaging, and recently completed a post graduate in applied ML/AI. He lives in NL, has two daughters, and loves spending time in/on the ocean. As a volunteer Erwin actively supports several sustainability and vitality in society programmes.

Dr. Anselma Wörner (Startup)
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COO
Exnaton
https://www.exnaton.com
Anselma Wörner is Co-Founder and COO at Exnaton where she is in charge of fundraising as well as of Exnaton’s matching and pricing algorithms. In 2020, Anselma graduated with a PhD from one of Europe’s most renowned universities, ETH Zurich, and was awarded the ETH Medal for her research on market mechanisms in the energy sector. In the same year, she co-founded the startup Exnaton with her two fellow PhD colleagues and was listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. In 2021, the startup received venture capital from Germany’s largest VC and they have won numerous awards for their product. Among others, the following media has covered Anselma, her two co-founders and their climate tech startup Exnaton: SRF, Women in Business, Handelszeitung, VSE, startupticker.

Dr. Wolfram Krendlesberger
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CFO
Heliovis
https://heliovis.com
Wolfram studied Economics and Commercial Science at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (PhD) and at the London School of Economics (MSc with distinction). Following professional experience in auditing and investment banking, Wolfram worked at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, specializing in utilities, from 1996 to 2002. Up until late 2008, Wolfram had been CFO of the waste management company Altstoff Recycling Austria AG. In 2010, he was appointed CEO tasked with the restructuring of an Austrian corporate group in the environmental technology and waste management industry. Since mid-2009, Wolfram has been on a systematic search for promising technology projects thus meeting Felix Tiefenbacher. Wolfram had initially represented a group of investors on the Supervisory Board of HELIOVIS and has been a full-time member of the Management Board since July 2011.

Dr. Thomas Hartmann (Startup)
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Head of Software Engineering
DataThings
https://datathings.com
Thomas is Co-Founder and Head of Software Engineering at DataThings. He holds a PhD in Software Engineering from the University of Luxembourg/SnT where he studied software systems to support the transition of electricity grids towards smarter operations, in the context of an industrial partnership program. Now, with more than 8 years working experience on this subject, he is product leader at DataThings for the development of Alva, an AI Twin for smart electricity grids, developed to help DSOs to harness the power of AI to support the grid operations of tomorrow. Empowered by the Greycat DataThings’ technology, it leverages smart meter data to learn and enable predictions and simulations closer to reality than statistical approaches.

Dr. Thomas Goette (Startup)
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CEO
GreenPocket
https://www.greenpocket.com
Dr. Thomas Goette is CEO of GreenPocket, one of the leading specialists for smart metering and smart home software. As an expert for the energy and internet business, he regularly appears in the trade press and is invited as a speaker to national and international events. In 2012, the economy magazine Wirtschaftswoche and Daimler nominated him as one of the top 100 online trendsetters in Germany. Prior to joining GreenPocket he founded and built up a social media startup. Before that he worked as a partner at the consulting firms Oliver Wyman (2006-2007), Diamond Cluster (2001-2006) and Roland Berger Strategy (1993-2000). He holds a degree in business administration from the University of Göttingen and a PhD in the area of Marketing and Finance.

Dr. Wilhelm Stein (Startup)
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CEO
Sunmaxx PVT
https://sunmaxx-pvt.com/en/
Wilhelm is the founder and driving force behind Sunmaxx PVT. Within just two years, he gathered a visionary team to develop a business which is now set for exponential growth as it moves its unique hybrid solar module technology into mass production. Sunmaxx photovoltaic thermal modules combine automotive thermal management expertise with photovoltaic technology, and can thus provide electricity and heat simultaneously. Wilhelm has more than 20 years of experience in the solar and semiconductor industries, having worked with industry leaders such as Meyer Burger, 3D-Micromac, Oxford PV, Von Ardenne, Oerlikon and Osram OptoSemiconductor. He is a seasoned executive with a proven track record in managing large organisations, establishing new businesses, and driving new product developments, including installing and ramping up large production lines as well as negotiating complex supplier agreements. Wilhelm has a master’s degree in Physics and completed his PhD in Material Science at the Max-Planck-Institute in Stuttgart. He holds more than 90 patents and has won several prizes for his work, such as the Solar Industry Award 2013.

Dr. Arthur Singer (Startup)
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CEO
Stabl Energy
https://stabl.com/en/
Arthur Singer is the co-founder and CEO of startup Stabl. Together with Dr. Nam Truong, Martin Sprehe, and Christoph Dietrich, he launched Stabl in 2019 with the mission of making battery storage systems more flexible, more efficient and more sustainable. With its Energy-Storage-as-a-Service offering STABL removes the risk of buying and operating battery storage systems for companies and investors. Based on Stabl’s proprietary power electronics and control algorithms, it provides stationary storage systems built upon of second life batteries (batteries previously used in another application such as electric vehicles). Arthur holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and an MBA. He is an active advocate of efficient and elegant solutions in energy systems – with an emphasis on circular and sustainable solutions. At Stabl, Arthur is driving the company’s development of its breakthrough software-defined Battery Storage Technology, working closely with early customers to enable battery re-use.

Dr. Nikita Uzhegov (Startup)
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COO
SpinDrive
https://spindrive.fi
Nikita is a COO and co-founder of the Finnish cleantech startup SpinDrive. Following his passion for making the research results in energy efficiency applicable to everyone he co-founded SpinDrive. SpinDrive’s mission is to democratize levitation in industrial applications using active magnetic bearings (AMBs). Magnetic bearings are levitating rotating parts of electric motors and work similarly to Maglev trains. AMBs increase electric motor-driven system efficiency by at least 10% and provide 20-year maintenance-free and oil-free operation. They are used in industrial turbomachines, which can be found in almost every factory worldwide. Nikita holds a doctoral degree in electrical engineering in the field of high-speed machinery. He is among other awards US Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative (YTILI) Fellow and received Jorma Luomi prize at International Conference on Electrical Machines. As SpinDrive COO he is responsible for strategy implementation, business development, sales and investor relations. Nikita led SpinDrive efforts to attract €4M of public and private funding and bring 4 multibillion customers. SpinDrive’s mission is to democratize levitation to mitigate above 0.6 gt of CO2 emissions annually by 2050.

Dr. Lennard Wilkening (Startup)
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CEO
Suena
https://www.suena.energy
Dr. Lennard Wilkening, an esteemed professional in the electrical energy sector, has over eight years of experience working at the forefront of the industry. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Power Systems and has earned a PhD in the optimization of grid-scale battery energy storage systems. His research experience includes a tenure at the prestigious Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In 2021, Dr. Wilkening, along with two other innovative co-founders, established Suena GmbH, where he now serves as the CEO. Suena is a pioneering startup that supports grid-scale energy storage asset owners in maximizing their profits and minimizing risks within short-term electricity and balancing markets. Under Dr. Wilkening’s guidance, Suena has developed advanced AI-driven optimization and trading software solutions, facilitating a more efficient and sustainable energy future.

Dr. Ruben Hünig (Startup)
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Co-CEO
Phytonics
https://www.phytonics.tech
In 2011, Ruben Hünig started with his research in the field of photovoltaics. He did his PhD at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany about how to efficiently capture light in solar cells by applying concepts from the plant kingdom. In 2021, after three years of industry related R&D at the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) he came back to KIT and founded the spin-off Phytonics to commercialize a novel bio-inspired coating for solar modules. With the Phytonics coating, PV panels generate up to 10 % more power per year plus they are absolute glare-free, enabling PV power generation in many sensitive areas. Ruben Hünig is the Co-CEO of Phytonics, a company based in southern Germany with 10 employees and a market entry targeted for 2023.

Dr. Eran Inbar (Startup)
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CEO
Prisma Photonics
https://www.prismaphotonics.com
Dr. Eran Inbar has been CEO and Founder of Prisma Photonics since 2017. He previously founded and managed V-Gen (2001-2016), a dominant player in the fiber laser market. Eran holds a PhD in Physical Electronics from Tel-Aviv University with many laser patents. In his diminishing free time, Eran is an enthusiastic triathlete.

Jannik Kupke (Startup)
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CEO
Voltaro
https://www.voltaro.de
Jannik Kupke is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Voltaro, a startup that simplifies access to roof-top solar and clean energy for commercial real estate, companies and installers through its solar-as-a-service platform. Prior to Voltaro, Jannik played a crucial role in building the 2nd largest renewable YieldCo on the German stock market for Pacifico (now Tion Renewables). As a scholar of the German National Academic Foundation he holds degrees in Physics and Econophysics and has contributed to the fields of climate science and machine learning.

Stephan von Wolff (Startup)
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COO
Swobbee
https://swobbee.de/en/
Stephan joined Swobbee as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2022. He brings with him over five years of experience in laser micro-manufacturing, where he served as the Managing Director of Class 4 Laser, a Swiss start-up that specialized in developing laser systems for turbine refurbishment and micromachining. In 2019, he co-founded TLD Photonics, a university spin-off of FHNW University, which develops laser sources and optics for machining, high-speed 3D measurement, and diagnostics. Stephan holds an MSc. in Mechanical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University and an MSc. in Manufacturing Consultancy from Cranfield University. He is of German-South African origin. About Swobbee: Swobbee is a leading provider of intelligent battery swapping solutions for light electric vehicles (LEVs).The company’s mission is to make LEV recharging simple, fast, and accessible to everyone.

Michael Svensson (Startup)
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CEO
BladeRobots
https://bladerobots.com
Michael Svensson joined BladeRobots in January 2023 as CEO. BladeRobots is a spinout of Vestas providing automated leading edge maintenance for wind turbine blades. Michael has a long history in the wind industry as well as with starting new companies within the wind business. He is driven by the startup mentality and being a part of accelerated growth in the business. Michael has previously worked in R&D in senior positions at Vestas and later in Operations inside Orsted. Latest, he has worked in the wind turbine service business where he has built up two companies from scratch. Michael has Bachelor degree in Electronics.

Andreas Eberhardt (Startup)
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Co-CEO
Pionierkraft
https://pionierkraft.de
Andreas is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Pionierkraft. Pionierkraft is the first provider to enable 84% of Germany’s apartment building stock for beneficial and shared use of sustainable solar energy. With more than 300 sharing solutions already installed, the Forbes 30 Under 30 listed founders aim to establish the market-leading position in the area of small apartment buildings. While studying electrical engineering in Munich and California and working in the field of solar power solutions Andreas recognized the lack of a sustainable energy sharing solution and the incredible potential it could offer. Striving to make a real contribution to the energy revolution and to make renewable and affordable energy accessible to all people has been the driving force behind him and his co-founder ever since.

Serge Subiron (Startup)
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CEO
Jedlix
https://jedlix.com/en/
Serge is the CEO of Jedlix, the leading smart charging platform connecting Electric Vehicles to the energy markets, through direct integration with OEMs such as Tesla, Renault and BMW. Based in the Netherlands, Jedlix contributes to set smart charging over-the-air as the default charging mode of EVs at scale. Jedlix works with OEMs, CPOs, utilities and grid operators in Europe to unlock the value of the EVs charging flexibility for their sustainable integration into the grid and optimize their total cost of ownership. Serge is a pioneer entrepreneur in mobility, IoT and smart grid for the past 10 years, and also served as VP of the France Smart Grid Association, ThinkSmartGrids. Prior to that, Serge has managed a number of business units and regional P&Ls for telecom groups such as Cisco, Alcatel Lucent in Europe and Asia for more than 20 years, delivering double digit growth and conducting new ecosystems development and business model transformation. He holds a Business degree and drives an electric train.

Konrad Hanschmidt (Startup)
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CEO
Gridio
https://www.gridio.io
Konrad is Co-founder and CEO of Gridio. Gridio’s mission is to enable EV owners and households to become part of the energy transition, by automatically using energy when it makes sense. Gridio does so by building a platform that connects to and orchestrates electric cars, wallboxes, home solar and storage systems – all over the cloud without any hardware. Since their launch 2 years ago, Griodio has 60K+ downloads in 22 countries and recently opened up its service to B2B users. Before Gridio, Konrad spent 10 years studying and forecasting clean energy trends in Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London and then at BHP Billiton in Singapore and Australia – where he decided that there must be smarter ways to balance the grid than Elon Musk building giant batteries. Konrad has an MSc in Energy, Environmental Technology and Economics from City University of London.

Ion Padilla (Startup)
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CEO
Wegaw
https://wegaw.com
Ion Padilla is Co-founder and CEO of Wegaw. Wegaw is a climate-tech startup on a mission to completely transform “how we understand and operate geospatial data for new commercial horizons”, and delivers invaluable solutions that are optimizing renewable energy production and trading capabilities across. Currently, the client portfolio includes energy companies and operators in Andorra, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland and Spain, and is set to demonstrate the transferability of its geospatial fusion technology for the solar PV industry. Having completed his studies in Computer Engineering and Science, Artificial Intelligence and Software Development at Mondragon Unibertsitatea in the Basque Country and at The University of Northampton (UK), Ion was selected to work at CERN in Geneva in 2012 where he collaborated in several projects involving the LHC (hadron collider) radio-protection and the Medialab group to help teach people about the origins of the universe through various multimedia interfaces. Ion then changed course in his professional development and became a very successful strategic consultant at Hewlett Packard’s Innovation Centers team, where he helped C-suite decision makers at organisations such as Swiss, the United Nations, Lufthansa, Syngenta, Louis Vuitton, Nestlé, Swisscom, Carrefour, Pictet and Deloitte, to identify new opportunities and improve their performance through cutting-edge technologies.

Denis Reichel (Startup)
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CEO
E-mobilio
https://e-mobilio.com
Denis Reichel is Co-Founder and CEO of E-mobilio. As a digital transformation and automotive expert he can look back on more than 12 years of experience in the fields of e-mobility and energy efficiency, working for car manufacturers, energy providers and technology companies. In 2019 he founded E-mobilio together with Ralph Missy. E-mobilio provides a unique SaaS solution with an integrated holistic e-mobility ecosystem for a seamless and customer-centric e-mobility buying process.

Dr. Toby Gill (Startup)
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CEO
IPG Energy
https://www.ipg.energy
Toby is the CEO of IPG Energy, a British climate tech company developing a clean, fuel-agnostic renewable generator to accelerate the transition away from diesel in hard-to-abate sectors, starting with construction. IPG’s product, the IPG Flameless Generator, uses patented Flameless Combustion technology to deliver pollutant-free power from any fuel, at a competitive cost. Toby began his career in academia at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL, before going on to start an agritech startup, prior to joining IPG. He holds a PhD from UCL in Physics & Chemistry. Please get in touch with Toby Gill to learn more about IPG’s customer demonstration trials and product scaling plans for our Series A round.

Dr. Roderik Colen (Startup)
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CEO
Powall
https://powall.com
Dr. Roderik Colen is CEO of Powall, a solution provider of high-performance and durable energy storage and conversion materials. Powall does this through leveraging proprietary industrial-scale technology enhancing powder materials. Before becoming CEO of Powall, Roderik was a board member of the Dutch foodbank association and supported various SME/startup companies in the energy space. Prior to that he had an international career at Shell International fulfilling various managerial commercial and supply chain roles. He holds a PhD in Catalysis from the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin.

Rein Westerdijk (Startup)
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Co-Founder
Taylor
https://www.taylor.solar
Rein Westerdijk is Co-Founder of Taylor Technologies, a supplier of electronics and software for high performing solar systems. Taylor’s unique cell string optimizer technology increases the energy output of solar PV rooftop installations by up to 20%. While founding a university incubator and several renewable energy initiatives during his studies of Innovation Sciences and Innovation Management at Eindhoven University of Technology, Rein and his fellow founder Michiel recognized the potential of a TU/e invented technology for the global PV industry. They founded the spin-off Taylor in 2017 and commercially launched September last year. With over 30.000 units shipped to date, Taylor is on its way to get more power from each rooftop PV system.

Will Tope (Startup)
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CCO
LiNa Energy
https://www.lina.energy
Will is the Chief Commercial Officer of LiNa Energy. Will has more than 10 years of global experience in the energy industry working across oil and gas business development, corporate strategy, and power trading where he focused on grid-scale batteries. Will leads the planning, development and implementation of strategies to commercialize and scale-up LiNa Energy’s technology, forming partnerships with customers in target storage markets and with manufacturing partners. Will has a Masters in Chemical Engineering from University of Bath.

Carlos Oliveira (Startup)
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CEO
Fibersail
https://fibersail.com
Carlos Oliveira is CEO of Fibersail. He holds a Master in Electrical and Computers Engineering (FEUP) and a Master in Business Administration (PBS) from the University of Porto. He has a passion for renewable energies and how they contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable, and better world. He has spent the last 15 years optimising the way energy is harnessed from the wind, 8 of them at an OEM, and knows first-hand how much the industry can benefit from using more advanced shape sensing technology and intelligent algorithms to optimize the way wind turbines are controlled and maintained.

Dr. Hendrik Schaede (Startup)
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CEO
Adaptive Balancing Power
https://www.adaptive-balancing.de/en/
Dr. Hendrik Schaede-Bodenschatz is Co-Founder and CEO of Adaptive Balancing Power. ADAPTIVE brought to market an efficient and sustainable flywheel energy storage technology whose concept was already developed by NASA in the 1970s. In 2013, Hendrik and the team at Technical University of Darmstadt achieved the global first functional proof of this 4th generation flywheel energy storage technology and in 2016, Hendrik co-founded Adaptive Balancing Power to bring the technology to market. Today, despite global competition, ADAPTIVE is still the only company capable of commercializing this innovative technology. Previously, the internationally recognized expert in flywheel energy storage was a visiting professor at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska (USA) and worked as researcher at Technical University of Darmstadt, where he also earned his doctorate. Hendrik is a mentor for technology startups and a regular member of industry and government working groups on energy transition and startups, as well as an elected member of the Darmstadt Rhine Main Neckar Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Gustav Nilsson (Startup)
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Head of Production
Modvion
https://modvion.com
Gustav Nilsson is the Head of Production at Modvion, ensuring that manufacturing facilities and capacity scales to match customer demand. He holds a Master of Science in Industrial Design Engineering and Business Design from Chalmers University of Technology. Previously, Gustav was Director of Strategy and Business Development at NEVS, Visionists and COO at Irisity.

Henrik Gjeruldsen (Startup)
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CCO
Amina Charging
https://www.aminacharging.com
Henrik is the Chief Commercial Officer of Amina Charging. With more than then 10 years of experience in the energy industry and a background as electrical engineer, his passion for technology and business has led him to pursue an Executive MBA degree before taking on the e-mobility business. As key member of Amina Charging from its inception, he has been part of its success from the very start and is now together with the rest of the team launching a new cutting-edge product in the Nordics and Europe. Striving to make EV-charging accessible to the majority of the market, Amina Charging are delivering a seamless solution that combines their hardware with European charge point operators and energy companies.

Dr. Jörg Überla (Startup)
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CEO
42watt
https://www.42watt.de
Dr. Jörg Überla is Co-Founder and CEO of cleantech startup 42watt, the solution for carbon-neutral renovation of existing buildings. Jörg previously spent ten years as a General Partner at venture capital firm Wellington Partners, best known for investments in companies such as Spotify, Xing and Immobilienscout. At Wellington Partners, Jörg supported around 100 startups, many of which he served as chairman or board member. Jörg Überla also founded the e-commerce startup Danato.com, which he successfully sold to Gruner + Jahr in 2019. Founded in Munich at the end of 2021, 42watt enables all property owners to renovate their buildings quickly and safely, starting with just ten data points to create renovation scenarios, assess their economic viability and eligibility for funding, and be guided by energy efficiency experts and tradespeople throughout the renovation project.

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