Countries around the world are working on technologies to help decelerate global warming with climate change being one of the most pressing issues right now. Investing in solutions that can help is crucial for pushing things forward and that’s what Vienna based Speedinvest is doing with its newly launched €80 million Climate & Industry Opportunity fund.
Investing in sustainability-oriented startups
The new Climate and Industry Opportunity fund by Speedinvest is aimed towards delivering long-term support for the company’s existing sustainability-oriented startups. This includes follow-up funding for the company’s existing portfolios such as TWAICE, Planetly, Sylvera, Greyparrot, and One.Five. This fund will be used to back up these, and more, companies via co-investments in new rounds through Speedinvest’s existing pro-rata rights.
Marie-Helene Ametsreiter, General Partner at Speedinvest, says, “According to our data, Europe’s industrial tech ecosystem has experienced 81% annualised growth since 2014, more than doubling over the past year to a value of €74B overall. It’s unsurprisingly one of the fastest-growing categories in European venture capital and we’re proud to back a number of outstanding businesses in the sector. Industrial and climate tech will provide key growth opportunities in the coming years, while also generating huge benefits for the planet.”
Furthermore, this new fund will also target selected non-portfolio startups that are accelerating European’s efforts to decarbonise and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Helping companies that make a difference
Speedinvest’s Climate & Industry Opportunity fund has already invested in a couple of companies. First one is TIER Mobility, which recently raised $200m in Series D funding round with Speedinvest being one of the investors. The second one is the Warsaw-based B2B startup Packhelp, which offers custom packaging solutions to its customers. Speedinvest was one of the investors in its notable €40 million Series B funding.
As mentioned earlier, Speedinvest will be utilising the newly created fund to invest in new startups. While which companies will be selected is set to be revealed later, TFN has learned that it will be a selective co-investment with top-tier funds. This will happen in later stage rounds of new startups, which are working on tech that can help the industrial sector ‘digitise, decarbonise and improve its sustainability performance.’
Exclusive access with Speedinvest
The final close for the fund is scheduled in Q2, 2022. Prominent investors include US-based New Enterprise Associates (NEA), which is counted amongst world’s largest venture capital funds. Additionally, some non-institutional investments in the fund from the industrial sector include KNAPP, plastics and foam supplier Greiner AG, and HEINZEL GROUP, Central Europe’s leading producer of pulp and paper.
All the cornerstore Limited Partners (LPs) of the fund will gain exclusive access to Speedinvest’s corporate investor programme. This means they will have access to the deal flow of all relevant startups, along with an intro to Speedinvest’s portfolio of startups and their technologies. The LPs will also get to leverage these startups’ insight into tech trends and get access to an events programme, which is said to include exclusive networking opportunities and startup demo days.
Scott Sandell, Managing General Partner at NEA, adds, “Speedinvest is partnering with some of the continent’s most innovative companies working to solve the global climate crisis, and the NEA team is pleased to deepen our commitment to this crucial effort with our participation in Speedinvest’s new fund. We are very excited about the growing entrepreneurial opportunity in Europe, particularly for startups focused on reducing emissions and revolutionising industrial processes, which is a significant focus for NEA’s global investing activities.”
