Contrarian Ventures

CLIMATE COFFEE: After a fantastic second edition, it's time for another round of ☕ Climate Coffee in London! Whether you’re building, investing, or just deeply curious about the future of climate and sustainability, join us for an energizing morning with like-minded peers. Event details as follows: 📍 London 📅 27th February ⏰ 8:30 AM 📌 Vermuteria, 38/39 Stable St, London N1C 4DQ Spots are limited - sign up here: https://lnkd.in/dkj5xJBm cc: Alessandro Bertino, Patrikas Feiferas, Tomas Kemtys, Max Bray, Richard Ng, Greenworkx, Earth

CLIMATE TECH OVER DINNER: Last week, Contrarian Ventures (Tomas Kemtys) teamed up with EQT Ventures (Thomas Poitrineau) and Marble (Benjamin Tincq + Jonny Everett) to host an exclusive Climate Tech Dinner in Paris—bringing together 35 key players (founders + investors + ecosystem) for an evening full of great food and fun conversations. French climate tech ecosystem is as strong as ever, and we are very proud to have invested in multiple founders throughout the years. Great to have some of them join us for dinner — Thibaud Martin from altrove, Casper Norden and Alexandre Cleret from Decade Energy, and Thibaud Febvre from Vianova; thanks for coming!🙌 Thanks to everyone who joined—we look forward to more fun gatherings 🚀

GROWTH MEETS CAPITAL: Last year, we launched Growth Meets Capital, and it quickly became the place where top climate growth investors and A+ startups come together. In our first edition, we hosted over 80 investors and founders, facilitating more than 350 curated meetings. The feedback speaks for itself: ✅ 42% of attendees said it was the best event they had attended in a long time. ✅ 100% would come back. ✅ 100% rated the format as excellent. This year, the rules remain the same: ⏰ Only founders and CEOs on the company side. ⏰ Only investors/decision-makers (usually Partners) on the investor side. ⏰ One person per firm. ⏰ No fundraising pitches. This is about building real connections. (No slides. No decks. Call it speed dating, call it a gathering of great minds—just bring yourself.) ⏰ 10 curated meetings, matching founder and investor preferences, each lasting 25 minutes. ⏰ No no-shows. Every minute counts. The interest is overwhelming, and we’re finalizing the invite list. This year’s investor lineup is even stronger. As we lock in the 100 participants, tag the best Series A+ to pre-IPO climate tech companies that should be in the room. 👇 We’re bringing $130B+ of dry powder under one roof—50 leading growth investors and 50 pioneering climate tech founders. 100 dealmakers in one place. Contrarian Ventures x BBVA are excited to welcome you back to sunny Bilbao. It’s going to be intense. We promise. 🚀 Growth Meets Capital – where deals get done. cc: Rokas P., Tomas Kemtys, Patrikas Feiferas, Santiago Muguruza, CFA, María Victoria Mozos Fernández, Lourdes Dominguez Bengoa, Antonio Bravo Acín, Ignacio Gómez - Centurión Erasun, Energy Tech Summit

E-WORLD CONFERENCE: Our Principal, Robina von Stein, is in Essen this week for the E-world energy & water conference, connecting with innovators, startups, and industry leaders driving the energy transition forward. 📢 If you're attending and want to discuss climate tech, energy innovation, or the future of sustainable infrastructure, feel free to reach out to Robina. Let’s connect and exchange ideas on shaping the future of energy! ⚡🔋🌍

CLIMATE COFFEE: ☕🌍 What a way to kick off the first ☕ Climate Coffee of 2025! Last week’s ☕ Climate Coffee in London was our biggest ever—not just in London, but across all Climate Coffee locations—with 80+ attendees filling the room. 👏🔥 The crowd was incredibly diverse, from scale-up founders, VCs, and family offices to tech and fintech operators eager to make an impact in climate. It’s clear: climate is attracting talent from all sectors. Kudos to Zinc for hosting us and creating the perfect space for these critical conversations. 🙌 If you missed this one, don’t worry—☕ Climate Coffee happens every last Thursday of the month. Stay tuned for details on the next one! cc: Alessandro Bertino, Patrikas Feiferas, Max Bray, Richard Ng, Earth, Greenworkx

EMPOWERING WOMEN IN CLIMATE TECH: Last week, our very own Robina von Stein hosted her Annual Female Climate Tech Dinner in Berlin. 🎉💄 The evening united remarkable women driving climate innovation with inspiring conversations, strategic visioning, and, of course, delicious food. Thank you to all the brilliant female climate tech investors—angels, VCs, PEs, and LPs—who joined us. Your energy and insights are vital to advancing the sustainable future we’re all working toward. 💚 If you’re a female investor in climate tech and want to connect with this growing community, exchange ideas, and explore opportunities, we’d love to have you join us. Check out the link in the comments to join our WhatsApp group. 👇 Let’s make 2025 a year of impact and progress together! cc: HV Capital, Planet A Ventures, KOMPAS VC, Vorwerk Ventures, Climentum Capital, AENU, Atlantic Labs, Cherry Ventures, Revent, Clean Energy Ventures, Carbon Removal Partners, Bertelsmann Investments, Siemens Energy, Nucleus Capital, Climate Founders, GET Fund, Cathay Innovation, and more.

PORTFOLIO NEWS: We’re thrilled to celebrate Fusebox as they announce their latest €2.6 million funding round – led by Soulmates Ventures, SmartCap and their existing shareholders Eneco Ventures and PKO Bank Polski. 🌍⚡ This round marks an important step in Fusebox ’s journey, enabling the company to strengthen its SaaS platform, attract top talent, and scale its impact across the European energy market. A huge congratulations to Tarvo Õng and the entire Fusebox team for this achievement! 🚀💚 We can’t wait to see what’s next as you continue to scale and drive impactful change. Read more in comments 👇

CLIMATE COFFEE: ☕🌍 After the great success of our first Climate Coffee London, we’re excited to announce the second edition! This time, we’re gathering at our friends at Zinc (special thanks to Hannah Abdel-Hadi, Luke Charbonnier-Bevan, PhD, and Alex Cheswick). What are your 2025 climate goals? 🌍 Let’s talk New Year’s resolutions, big ideas, and how we can work together to create impact. Event details as follows: 📍 London 📅 30th January ⏰ 8:30 AM 📌 Zinc, Euston House, 24 Eversholt Street, London NW1 1AD Sign up via the link below – we’d love to see you there! https://lnkd.in/dkj5xJBm cc: Patrikas Feiferas, Alessandro Bertino, Tomas Kemtys, Max Bray, Richard Ng, Earth, Greenworkx

PORTFOLIO NEWS: We’re excited to celebrate our portfolio company, BeZero Carbon, as they announce their $32 million Series C funding round! 🎉 The round was led by GenZero, with participation from Japan Airlines, Translink Capital Innovation Fund, and other existing and new investors. This investment will enable BeZero Carbon to expand its ratings coverage across domestic and sovereign compliance markets, as well as CORSIA. Additionally, they will continue to invest in their products, productivity, and analytical capabilities, including advancements driven by their climate and data scientists and the application of automation and AI techniques. Congratulations to Tommy Ricketts, Sebastien Cross and the entire BeZero Carbon team on reaching this incredible milestone! 👏 💚 💚 Read more in the comments below👇

PORTFOLIO NEWS: We’re thrilled to extend our investment in Metafuels as they announce their latest $9 million round today - led by our friends at Celsius Industries. 👏 🎉 The round follows several technological breakthroughs over the past two years, which herald the next phase of Metafuels development cycle - moving from lab research to demonstration and production scale-up. Metafuels’ has been able to scale because of its market-leading ability to convert its feedstock (e-methanol) into e-SAF with a significantly higher yield, ensuring a more efficient and cost-effective process. Metafuels’ signature e-SAF, aerobrew, can replace conventional kerosene regardless of the size, type of aircraft, and short-haul or long-haul. It is critical infrastructure we need to decarbonise aviation - a sector responsible for ~3% of global CO2 emissions. ✈️ Big congrats to Saurabh KAPOOR, Leigh Hackett, Ulrich Koss, and the whole Metafuels team. We’re excited to see you scale, grow, and change the world! 👊 💚 Read more on Forbes in the comments👇