SET Ventures document | 01-09-2023 |

15 CLIMATE SOFTWARE STARTUPS TO WATCH

In recent years, climate software solutions have attracted attention from fans and critics alike. 

The billions poured into the sector reflect the increased need from big corporations for carbon emissions accounting and offsetting, as well as consumer demands for smarter energy systems. However, climate software critics note that purely digital solutions have yet to move the needle on climate change — in comparison to hardware and infrastructure solutions.


Portfolio | 15-08-2023 |

ETPA LAUNCHES PLATFORM TO DISRUPT EUROPEAN POWER TRADING

SET Ventures portfolio company, Etpa is aiming to disrupt the power trading sector and have now officially launched their platform onto the European Power Market.

Power trading holds many similarities to the world of stock trading.  But instead of stocks, traders buy and sell electricity within the energy industry. Different forms of trading may exist based on market designs, spanning from short-term spot markets (where Etpa specialises) to long-term power purchase agreements.

But while the world of Wall Street long ago moved on from manual trading to one based on algorithms, the power trading sector is only beginning to follow suit. With many professional traders arguing that today’s power trading platforms are ineffective at capitalising on the volatile power prices frequently seen in our current energy system which are caused largely by fluctuations in wind and solar sources.

This is because most trading platforms either limit the volume of transactions a trader can make or are so unreliable in their availability that traders cannot depend on them. Often resulting in them missing out on trades through no fault of their own.

Etpa realised this issue and moved swiftly to solve it. Since receiving a €5 million investment in 2022 from SET Ventures and the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund, Etpa has been in execution mode building out its solution.

Their innovative trading platform combines unparalleled trade processing speeds with access to high volume trading. Meaning it can process more trades at a constant speed that currently drowns today’s platforms and users never miss another trade again.

Etpa also opens new opportunities for smaller traders who previously could not overcome the costly barrier of clearing bank fees, as Etpa offers lower cash requirements for settlements (no collaterals and lower fees). Any company with as low as 0.1 megawatt capacity in the Netherlands can utilise Etpa’s trading platform for the energy spot market. Meaning companies of all sizes can easily access energy trading revenues with a guaranteed fair market price, further incentivising the transition to clean energy.

When asked about the launch, Etpa CEO, Michiel Lensink had this to say: “We are thrilled that traders can now see the power of Etpa. Our superior speed and stability are truly game changers for this industry. Traders can now feel confident that they have the tools they need to never miss another trade.”

The company plans to expand its offering into Germany and Austria later this year, and France, Belgium and Denmark markets in 2024.

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SET Ventures document | 27-07-2023 |

THE ARTICLE 8 AND ARTICLE 9 VC FUNDS IN EUROPE

Lots of VCs have spent the past few years baking environmental and social considerations into their investing. But, beyond self-declaration, there are limited ways to judge which funds are truly walking the walk.


SET Ventures document | 11-07-2023 |

IS IMPACT INVESTING RISKY?

SET Partner, Dr. Till Stenzel was interviewed along with several other Dutch VCs on impact investing. Original text from Silicon Canals

Can impact investing be done without any risk? This question has dominated the minds of some of the wisest investors for decades and as impact investing evolves from being a niche investment vehicle to driver of a major change in the startup ecosystem, the answer is also becoming clear.

For decades, commercial investors have tried to protect their investments by investing in safer options like tech and software companies.

However, as we face new challenges in the 21st century, there are a new crop of startups trying to solve them and a number of impact investors helping these startups reach those goals.

However, impact investing continues to be seen as a risky investment where the risk is measured both in terms of financial risk as well as failure to generate social or environmental impact.

Despite trailing other European ecosystems in early stage funding, Amsterdam has become a hotbed for impact investing and is giving birth to many new age impact startups.

Niche to necessity

Team Rubio
Rubio uses the good parts of the PE/VC model to create more impact | Image Credit: Rubio Impact Ventures

Amsterdam-based impact investors equivocally reject the idea of impact investing being riskier than traditional investment.

“We don’t believe that impact startups are riskier than regular startups,” says Willemijn Verloop, founding partner at Rubio Impact Ventures, one of the first impact investors in Europe.

She adds, “We see a growing group of investors joining the impact space as they are interested in double rewarding returns.”

Impact investing has become a major topic for investors, especially ones looking to align their portfolios with their values.

In fact, the roots of impact investing can be traced back to the 18th century when people resisted investments in companies driving conspicuous consumption.

During the 1960s, the idea gained strength in the US when Vietnam War protesters demanded that university endowment funds no longer invest in defence contractors.

Now, impact investing has found another meaning and one that plays a crucial role in solving 21st century challenges including climate change, equal opportunities, and technological disruption.

“Impact investing has become more popular over the years,” says Willem Poerink, Investment Manager at Shift Invest.

“I think the first impact funds of the earliest vintage years are showing proof that impact strategy can go hand in hand with market-rate return on investments,” he adds.

Dr. Till Stenzel, Partner at SET Ventures, agrees with Verloop and does not see any difference between impact startups and regular startups.

“They are both high-risk, early-stage propositions that need careful assessment,” he says.

They are also seeing more and more investors becoming interested in impact driven startups.

“For some of these investors, impact is in the core of their investment thesis and/or their daily operations,” explains Rinke Zonneveld, CEO of Invest-NL.

Impact and outcomes

Wout van Blommestein DOEN Participaties
Wout van Blommestein is an Investment Associate at DOEN Participaties | Image Credit:

What’s driving the sudden spike in interest in investing? Well, there is no clear answer here but Stenzel feels many traditional venture firms are now “looking at investment opportunities that have a potential impact.”

Impact is about outcomes from the company’s activities and investors now see these impactful outcomes directly aligned with commercial success.

Wout van Blommestein, Investment Associate at DOEN Participaties, says many investors are now finding it reasonable to accept a slightly lower return on their investments if the impact on society or climate is bigger.

“We see commercial money flowing into impactful startups as investors realise that industries like climate tech can be a booming industry where some companies will turn into unicorns,” he adds.

While impact is mostly coming in the form of CO2 reduction, Stenzel adds that impact investors are also looking at metrics like renewable energy adoption or the roll out of electric vehicles.

“At SET, we require an impact objective for each of our investments, which we continuously measure and monitor,” he says.

Balancing impact with risk

According to Cambridge Associates, impact VC funds delivered 15 per cent returns over a 20-year horizon in developing markets, which was in line with mainstream funds.

While this data will be music to the ears of many investors, Amsterdam’s top impact investors favour balancing risk with impact.

Since early stage investing comes with its inherent risk, these investors don’t want to call it risk proof just yet.

“For us it’s crucial that business and impact are intrinsically aligned, companies creating a unit of impact for every unit they sell,” explains Verloop.

She says Rubio Impact Ventures always looks at impact, risk and returns in combination and keeps a longer horizon for returns.

“We believe in the long run these companies will come out stronger, so we don’t aim for a super speedy 10x return,” she notes, adding, “but look at strong scalable long term value creation for society and for our investors.”

Rinke Zonneveld Invest-NL
Rinke Zonneveld is the CEO of Invest-NL | Image Credit: Invest-NL

As the National Promotional Institute for The Netherlands, impact is the goal for Invest-NL and Zonneveld says “returns is a means to an end.”

“The higher the potential impact of an investment, amongst others measured via a life cycle analysis, the more risk we are willing to take,” he says.

As an impact first investor, DOEN Participaties also accepts higher risks and lower returns for companies with potential to change [broken] systems.

“On a portfolio level, we need to make a return on our investment in order to sustain our revolving fund. So, we need to balance between impact startups with higher returns and lower returns,” says Van Blommestein.

SET Ventures, on the other hand, looks at the impact thesis as part of each investment and balances it with financial analysis of the risks and potential returns on an investment.

Stenzel says, “We are a financially driven investor that generates returns for our own investor base, so every investment must have the potential to become a winner.”

Poerink, however, doesn’t want to sacrifice impact for financial return. He says Shift Invest seeks both a significant return on impact as well as a healthy financial return.

“We have an independent impact committee who assess the impact potential of the deal without taking financial return into account,” he says, adding “our investment committee considers both.”

One of the ways all these investors are balancing risk with impact investing is diversifying their investments.

Poerink says Shift Invest looks at impact startups working on climate change, biodiversity loss, natural resource depletion while also backing technologies with direct versus enabling impacts and industries or sectors.

He says, “We balance risk within impact, and then also balance this with financial return expectations to meet our fiduciary duty to LPs.”

Changing landscape

Carbon Equity Techleap
Jacqueline van den Ende co-founded Carbon Equity in 2021 | Image Credit: Techleap.nl

It won’t be far fetched to call Amsterdam as a microhub for impact investing in Europe.

When Rubio announced its first fund in 2014, it was one of the first impact investors in Europe and there has since been a steady rise of impact ventures and impact investors joining the space in the Netherlands and in Europe.

On one hand, it has traditional impact investors like Invest-NL, RubioShift Invest, and others, while on the other hand, there are new age impact investors such as Carbon Equity, 4impact, Duurzaaminvesteren.nl, and LSP (Life Science Partners).

This week, Carbon Equity announced that its Climate Tech Portfolio Fund II has raised €50M from more than 100 investors.

The fund allows investors to invest alongside “7-10 world-renowned climate venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds with a single investment ticket.”

With plans to soon allow a minimum investment of €50,000 and 320 per cent increase in assets under management (AUM), Carbon Equity is enabling small ticket access to real climate impact.

Verloop calls this shift in investor sentiment and landscape “crucial to make a real shift towards a balanced economy, where people and the planet thrive.”

Van Blommestein argues that impact investing has gone mainstream with the arrival of a number of impact investors.

Poerink says existing impact funds have become bigger while new impact funds have entered the market.

He also says fund to fund parties like Carbon Equity have helped improve the sentiment further than just the institutional and governmental bodies.

While the tide is in favour of impact investing, Stenzel warrants some caution in the space.

He says “impact has become a catch-all phrase for many sectors” and argues in favour of looking at whether impact is central to a company’s business or just a cursory outcome.

The road ahead for impact investing

One of the common things Dutch startups want to see is a stronger ecosystem but in the case of impact investing, that ecosystem already exists.

“An ecosystem with support mechanisms has been built in the Netherlands,” says Verloop and adds that this ecosystem is only getting stronger.

However, she wants to see more action to come from The Hague in terms of a clear policy.

“[The Hague] should remove barriers to impact investing by improving financial and regulatory frameworks and create conditions that foster the mobilisation of additional public and private capital to generate social and environmental benefits,” adds Verloop.

Poerink agrees with Verloop and says in addition to money, there is a need to “alleviate bureaucratic burden” by standardisation on impact between investors or making regulations like SFDR more proportional to the startup context.

Van Blommestein argues that investors should do some retrospecting and find answers to what returns are enough for them.

He also sees education and startup ecosystems facilitating more impact startups and investors to call Amsterdam their home.

As a veteran in the Dutch tech ecosystem and champion of Dutch startups, Zonneveld sees “special venture building programmes for impact startups being helpful.”

He says a lot of impact startups are still looking for the right business model and sees a clear need to support them in this endeavour.

However, none of this will translate into real impact if there is no wider adoption of solutions designed by impact startups.

Stenzel sees “need for wider customer openness to such solutions, as well as sound regulatory frameworks that support wider market adoption.”

Robert Baden-Powell’s “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it” comes to mind while looking at the work of these impact investors.

Their investments are clearly an attempt to leave this world a little better than they found it and that speaks volume about impact.

Read the original article here.


SET Ventures document | 09-06-2023 |

WHAT IS CLIMATETECH AND WHY YOU SHOULD WANT TO WORK IN IT.

Hayden Young explains many of the nuances of "Impact Investing" and why you should want to work in climatetech.


SET Ventures document | 26-05-2023 |

SAAS WON’T SAVE THE PLANET, BUT A HARDWARE-SOFTWARE DUO JUST MIGHT

Many investors and climate activists are critical of “climate software”. Carbon accounting and offsetting platforms have attracted billions from VCs.


SET Ventures document | 15-05-2023 |

SET VENTURES IMPACT REPORT 2022

Our impact report for 2022 is out! Read it to see how our portfolio saved over 2.9 million kilotons of CO2 last year! Click here to read the full report


SET Ventures document | 08-05-2023 |

THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN BEFORE STARTING A CAREER IN VC

Emily, Ellen, Leonie and Julia share their journey into VC and some key learnings they wish they'd known before starting in the VC sector


SET Ventures document | 02-05-2023 |

ESG & IMPACT: HOW TOP INVESTORS AIM FOR REAL VALUE CREATION

Attention to ESG has increased enormously in the investor market in recent years. Impact investing, related to the realization of a positive environmental or social impact in addition to financial returns, can also count on a lot of interest. We discussed this trend with three experts from the private equity and venture capital world.


Portfolio document | 28-04-2023 |

ENERGY HARVESTING MARKET MAY SEE A BIG MOVE

The latest study released on the Global Energy Harvesting Market by AMA Research evaluates market size, trend, and forecast to 2028. The Energy Harvesting market study covers significant research data and proofs to be a handy resource document for managers, analysts, industry experts and other key people to have ready-to-access and self-analyzed study to help understand market trends, growth drivers, opportunities and upcoming challenges


SET Ventures document | 13-04-2023 |

WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT THE ENERGY SYSTEM?

SET Partner, Anton Arts shares his take on what VCs and their portfolio need to do to achieve the returns that will continue to make our industry viable. Read the article here.


SET Ventures document | 06-04-2023 |

BEYOND CARBON REDUCTIONS: WHY IMPACT INVESTORS MUST LOOK PAST JUST CO2 METRICS

Read here SET Venture Partner, Dr. Till Stenzel's expansive article to understand how investors can demonstrate that they are on track for this change starting today, and not just by 2040.


Portfolio document | 03-04-2023 |

PERSPECTIVES ON WIRELESS AND AUTOMATED CHARGING FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Easelink and other EV leaders discuss how innovative charging technologies could create new opportunities for electric vehicles. Read the full article here.


SET Ventures document | 14-03-2023 |

SVB COLLAPSE: WHAT NOW FOR CLEAN TECH FINANCING?

Julia Padberg, shared her insight with Sustainable Views from the Financial Times over the future of early-stage climate tech companies in the wake of the svb bank run.


SET Ventures document | 27-02-2023 |

EUROPE’S DIGITAL ENERGY COMPANIES GRAPPLE WITH LACK OF CLARITY FROM EU

SET Partner, Julia Padberg joins a group of thought-leaders to comment on the issues facing energy companies inside the current environment of the EU's digitalisation strategy and what can be done.


SET Ventures document | 14-02-2023 |

EVS, AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR SMART ENERGY NETWORK (DUTCH)

AMSTERDAM | SET Ventures partner, Rene Savelsberg shared his insight to Link Magazine on the critical role of EVs in our future energy system and the role SET portfolio company, Easelink plays.


Portfolio News document | 06-01-2023 |

GENERAL FUSION EXCEEDS CORE TECHNOLOGY PERFORMANCE TARGETS WITH PLASMA AND COMPRESSION PROTOTYPES

VANCOUVER, Dec. 12 | General Fusion has demonstrated plasma energy confinement times, plasma temperatures, and compression system performance that support meeting its goal of 10 keV.


SET Ventures podcast | 03-01-2023 |

ADDRESSING THE URGENCY OF OUR CLIMATE PROBLEM

SET partner, Julia Padberg shares insights with NPO 1 Radio on the role of startups in solving the climate puzzle (Dutch).


Portfolio document | 24-11-2022 |

FOUNDER INTERVIEW: JANICE GOODENOUGH

With her company HYDROGRID, Janice Goodenough optimizes the digital processes in hydroelectric power plants.


SET Ventures document | 21-11-2022 |

OPPORTUNITY IN CRISIS

The developed world is facing scenarios of zero economic growth or even recessions, as inflation, energy costs, interest-rate rises, and tougher lending criteria makes life tough for business.


SET Ventures podcast | 14-11-2022 |

EUVC PODCAST

SET Ventures joined EUVC podcast to discuss SET's mission to reduce the climate impact of the energy sector through digital innovation, together with industry-leading entrepreneurs.


SET Ventures document | 10-11-2022 |

CLIMATE TECH DEFIES ECONOMIC GLOOM TO PULL IN VC FUNDING

SET Partner, Julia Padberg joins an in-depth review of the success of climate tech amidst a current downward trend in VC funding.


SET Ventures document | 09-11-2022 |

WILL COP27 ENHANCE THE CLIMATE FOR CLIMATE TECH FIRMS?

Sharm El Sheikh, EG | SET Partner, Julia Padberg shares a few measures that would enable the climate tech community to take more action.


Portfolio document | 21-10-2022 |

THE DREAM OF WIRELESS CHARGING

GRAZ, AU., Oct. 21, 2022 — Easelink, are profiled by Frankfurter Allgemeine about the traction they have made with their Matrix Charging System


Portfolio video | 28-09-2022 |

ECO22 BERLIN: SEBASTIAN BERNING PITCHES INSTAGRID

Berlin 23-24 June 2022 | Instagrid provides portable green power to professionals and mobile lifestyle optimisers in all kinds of offgrid situations.


Portfolio document | 26-08-2022 |

DE: "CONDUCTIVE CHARGING": EASELINK WANTS TO MAKE THE CHARGING CABLE FOR ELECTRIC CARS SUPERFLUOUS

Easelink has developed conductive charging in an effort to make charging with a cable, obsolete.


Portfolio video | 22-07-2022 |

WHY BILLIONS ARE FLOWING INTO FUSION

Highlighting General Fusion among the private companies on the quest for unlimited clean power.


Portfolio podcast | 10-06-2022 |

SENSORFACT HELPS INDUSTRIES SAVE ENERGY (DUTCH)

CEO Pieter Broekema explains to Studio Energie how Sensorfact helps companies to save energy.


Portfolio video | 16-03-2022 |

DUTCH COMPANIES AT THE FOREFRONT OF ZERO-EMISSION CONSTRUCTION

Instagrid ONE units are being tested by four Dutch construction companies.


Portfolio video | 10-02-2022 |

DATA CENTERS MOVING TOWARDS 24/7 CARBON-FREE ELECTRICITY

Google, Microsoft, and Iron Mountain, move towards the procurement of renewable electricity.


Portfolio podcast | 07-02-2022 |

INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPH GARDLO

Co-founder and COO of Esforin explains how automated flexibility trading is making the energy system more resilient and ready to absorb more renewable generation


SET Ventures podcast | 21-01-2022 |

LEADERS IN CLEANTECH: ANTON ARTS

What makes a start-up, technology and disruptive business models investable and insights to exits.


SET Ventures video | 15-12-2021 |

JULIA PADBERG PRESENTS THE 2021 SET AWARDS

Get to know the finalists that have been recognized for their innovative business ideas to advance the energy transition and climate protection.


Portfolio video | 30-11-2021 |

SENSORFACT: SMART ENERGY SAVINGS IN THE INDUSTRY

Sensorfact helps industries to reduce their footprint and energy bill by eliminating energy waste in a smart and easy way so they can focus on production.


Portfolio video | 03-05-2021 |

HYDROGRID UNLOCKS THE POWER OF HYDRO ENERGY

Maximising efficiency of the world’s hydropower production will reduce CO2 emissions globally.


Portfolio video | 09-02-2021 |

WHAT IS AUTOMATED FLEXIBILITY MARKETING?

Fully automated and digitally controlled, the algorithms of ESFORIN steer the production processes of industries in real-time!


Portfolio video | 15-09-2020 |

TRUNKRS SAME DAY DELIVERY IDEAL FOR FRESH FOOD PRODUCTS

A logistic process must be fine-tuned for a quality delivery experience of fresh food products. Trunkrs explains how to achieve that.


Portfolio video | 02-05-2022 | 2 min

LUMUS PROJECT

Luxexcel has partnered with Lumus to co-develop a prototype of a 3D printed augmented reality-ready (AR) prescription lens.


Portfolio video | 04-04-2022 | 2 min.

ARSOS ROBOT, THE FIRST ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION SOFTWARE FOR RENEWABLES

ARSOS is a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) based software that autonomously operates and applies 1:1 care to hundreds of turbines at once.


Portfolio podcast | 21-10-2021 | 9 min.

EFFICIENCY IS KEY

Sensorfact helps industries to reduce their footprint and energy bill by eliminating energy waste in a smart and easy way so they can focus on production.


Portfolio podcast | 21-10-2021 | 27

SPEZIALIST FüR HOCHLEISTUNGS-BATTERIESYSTEME

Sebastian Berning, CEO of Instagrid, about the $33 million Series B financing round for the high-performance mobile battery systems specialist.


SET Ventures video | 15-10-2021 | 6 min.

ECO21 BERLIN: ANTON ARTS PITCHES SET VENTURES

Anton presents SET's investment thesis around the energy system transition and our investment focus.


Portfolio video | 29-10-2021 | 2 min

DEPSYS INSIGHTS FOR A SIMPLER ENERGY TRANSITION

Connected Energy Solutions spoke to Anja Langer Jacquin, Chief Commercial Officer at depsys about the role of smart grid solutions in the energy transition.


Portfolio video | 24-06-2020 | 1 min.

AUTOMATIC CONDUCTIVE CHARGING TECHNOLOGY FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Easelink's automated charging can make a tremendous contribution to the decarbonization of transport via mass adoption of electric cars.


SET Ventures video | 21-05-2020 | 60 min.

LETS TALK ENERGY SERIES WITH JULIA PADBERG

Let's Talk Energy podcast featuring Julia Padberg, moderated by Tomas Kemtys from Contrarian Ventures.


Portfolio podcast | 03-02-2020 | 40 min.

EVINOX

Evinox combines best-in-class heating interface units with advanced control software to create the leading solution for energy efficient heat networks.