Stephen Van Der Mark’s Post

“We don't believe that companies can succeed if they're just more sustainable. They have to offer a better product, a better service, be it higher quality or cheaper or more convenient.” John Mairlot Simple yet so important! It's easy to lose sight of this because investing in climate is often sentimentally charged. 🌍 John is the co-founder with Jinna Li of Endgame Capital, an investment syndicate focused on early-stage climate technology. 🌱 Endgame Capital only invests in companies that can reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by 100 megatons. And that have a right to win on their market, as he said above. In his latest interview with Roundtable, he gave us a masterclass: 🔍 Investment Process at Endgame Due diligence, Collaboration, Check range 👥 How to recruit Members for the Syndicate And how to promote diversity with different minimum ticket sizes (so simple, it’s genius) 🌟 Endgame Success Stories - Elyos Energy (UK): An AI-enhanced software decarbonizing commercial buildings, reducing energy bills by 15% and GHG emissions by 10%. - Kubik, Inc. (Africa): They upcycle plastic waste into building materials, 40% cheaper and five times less GHG intensive than traditional materials. 🎯 Looking Ahead Launching Endgame Fund I in 2025 Link to the interview 👉 https://lnkd.in/ehf8hDwJ Thanks again John, for this great session together! Evan Testa, Simon Ternoir, Nicolas Delwaide, Julien Antoine, Nick Surmanidze, Zaineb E., Lebastard Thibaud, Elora B., Charles Vallin, Marie Aurdal, Alexis Guinebretière, Antoine Loiseau, Felix W. Schmitt

Don't miss the final ClimateHack Amsterdam of 2024 where a stellar panel of climate VCs discuss the future of climate investing, including: - Liza Rubinstein Malamud - Carbon Equity. Carbon Equity enables private capital to invest in the world’s best climate private market funds and currently has €275M under management from more than 1,000 investors. It has invested in 22 funds in Europe and North America and has supported the growth of 150+ climatetech companies. - Gijs van der Hulst - Positron Ventures. Positron Ventures helps and funds scientist-entrepreneurs who are pursuing moonshots for (planetary) health. They invest in scientist-entrepreneurs working on a breakthrough in their field (across the natural sciences) with pre-seed investment and support across all aspects of building a company. - Charlie Macdonald - Rubio Impact Ventures. Rubio is an impact venture capital fund focused on highly-scalable tech companies that solve our most pressing global problems. It supports promising entrepreneurs, primarily in the Netherlands and NW EU, with growth capital and proven business tools to reach their full potential and enable them to achieve systemic change. - Austin Wood - SET Ventures. Since 2007, SET Ventures has invested in digital technology for a carbon-free energy system by backing pioneering founders with capital, community, and insights. It supports companies leading the systemic change of how energy is generated, distributed, stored, and consumed in sectors such as distributed infrastructure, energy retail, buildings, mobility, and industry as well as enabling technologies. https://lu.ma/71qa2gva #climatehack #climate #events #VCs Nhi C.

📰 Interesting read on why venture capitalists are increasingly investing in cutting-edge water technologies to address global water scarcity and drive industry change.

Great news for climate action! Pollination just launched a $150 million fund to support early-stage climate and nature startups in Australia. This means more funding for innovative solutions like clean energy, sustainable food production, and nature conservation.     Is your business ESG-ready? Bihasa Consultancy offers expert guidance on integrating ESG principles into your operations. Learn more & take action today! Read more here: https://shorturl.at/9txrt #ClimateTech  #ImpactInvesting #ESGNews #ESGConsulting #ClimateAction #SustainableBusiness

Buoyant Ventures Releases Its 2023 Impact Report 'The report demonstrates the firm's commitment to investing in digital-focused mitigation and adaptation solutions for climate change related challenges. To date, Buoyant Ventures manages $81 million with a focus on seed and Series A opportunities in energy, mobility, agriculture, water, circular economy, climate intelligence and the built environment. Buoyant utilizes methodology from leading industry standards including the UN's sustainable Development Goals, Global Impact Investing Network's IRIS metrics, and Impact Management Project's Five Impact Dimensions to quantify measurable impact metrics.' https://hubs.li/Q02HCyl70

✳️🚨 Your top 5 pieces of green technology news this week + investment news ⬇️ 1️⃣ 📣 Swiss voters have backed a new law to promote renewable energy output in a referendum held on Sunday. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eyxGJhHY 2️⃣☀️ Groundbreaking research from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) shows that floating solar panels could meet the total electricity demands of some countries. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ecrg55pQ 3️⃣🐝 Pollination launched a $150 million venture fund aimed at supporting early-stage climate and nature solutions companies. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eAKPNX-K 4️⃣🚌 An independent ‘Council for Net Zero Transport’ has been set up to support the next UK Government in accelerating the decarbonisation of the transport sector.    🔗 https://lnkd.in/efhqPikX 5️⃣🗳️ Reducing support for green parties in the European elections has raised fears that the EU may end up weakening its climate ambitions. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/evGv5A3h - - - - - - ⏬ Companies announcing investment this week include ⏬ - - - - - - 💰 Sustainable aroma solutions company EvodiaBio secured €7 million from a syndicate of investors, including The March Group, Nordic Foodtech VC, PINC and Ananke. 💰 Aeropowder raised £150,000 from the British Design Fund for its feather-based circular alternative to plastic thermal packaging. 💰 Solar energy startup Samara raised €9 million from Green Generation Fund, Move Energy , Ring Capital and Athletico Ventures to support households in their energy transition. 💰 Nova Carbon landed €1.4 million for its technology that enables the recycling of carbon fibre. - - - - - - - - - ✳️ Follow me on LinkedIn for weekly #GreenTechNews and investment updates. Adopter (✅ B Corp) #GreenTech #CleanTech #ClimateTech Steve Thackeray 

Big news for southern Ontario's cleantech scene! 🌿 Boundless Accelerator (formerly Innovation Guelph) has launched the Southern Ontario Environmental Impact Fund (SOEIF), supported by a $5.2-million investment from the federal government. The fund includes the i.d.e.a. Fund and the new Sustainable Impact Program, both designed to support businesses developing green technologies and help scale-ups become investor-ready. 🌍💡 What are your thoughts on this federal investment? How do you see it impacting the future of cleantech in Ontario? Share your comments below! #Cleantech #Innovation #Sustainability #GreenTech #OntarioTech #FederalFunding #EnvironmentalImpact #SeedFunding #CleanEnergy

📣 Mirova exceeds €200 million in commitments for the final closing of its first private equity fund - Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers dedicated to sustainable investing, announces the final closing of its first impact private equity fund, Mirova Environment Acceleration Capital (MEAC). - In 2021, Mirova launched its dedicated impact private equity strategy, aiming to combine financial returns with support for the environmental transition. - Marc Romano, Head of Impact Private Equity, Mirova: “With this first private equity fund, we are proud to have delivered on our ambitions to invest in unlisted companies displaying a high environmental impact. - The strategy focused on deploying ‘acceleration capital’ to grow sustainable businesses by addressing key growth trends and supporting innovative solutions. - Two years after its launch, Mirova Environmental Acceleration Capital (MEAC) raised €211m in commitments, 30% of which came from private clients attracted by the fund's multi-thematic approach under SFDR Finance 🇪🇺 Article 9. - MEAC is based on five investment pillars: clean energy, circular economy, natural resources, agri-agro technologies, and smart cities. - The fund has already deployed over €80m in 10 companies across Europe and North America and completed one exit. - MEAC has been awarded the Greenfin label and is eligible for the Tibi initiative. - Following MEAC, Mirova launched a second private equity fund called Mirova Impact Life Essentials (MILE), focused on societal impact. - MILE aims to support French and European companies in four themes: knowledge & know-how, well-being & health, responsible consumption, and diversity & inclusion. - Mirova aims to provide institutional and retail investors with attractive long-term returns and risk diversification, contributing to ecological and social transitions. - MILE is intended to be positioned under SFDR Article 9, like Mirova's other strategies. - MEAC has invested in companies like: - Ombrea : specialized in crop management and protection against climatic hazards. - Tallano Technologies: patented system for capturing fine particles from braking systems. - Agronutris: biotech focused on producing insect proteins for aquaculture and pet food. - Vestack: expertise in low-carbon building design and construction. - Naïo Technologies: agricultural robotics to mitigate labor shortages. - Norsepower: mechanical sails for decarbonizing maritime cargo ships. - Nuventura: manufacturer of high-voltage switchgears with alternatives to pollutants like SF6. - Waste Robotics: autonomous robots for sorting centers. - NLine Energy, Inc.: developer of energy efficiency projects using backpressure turbine technology. - GridBeyond: virtual power plant operator helping decarbonize industrial energy mixes.

Virta Ventures is a pre-seed climate tech fund investing in companies with equity-light B2B business models that are digitizing and decarbonizing energy, transportation, the built environment and agriculture. Virta intends to back “winners” in the equity-light climate tech space that will make up a meaningful portion of the 300 “decacorn” and 1,000 “unicorn” climate tech companies expected to emerge by 2030. You can read more about Virta Ventures in Toniic's latest blog post and why the firm generated interest and was eventually invested by a member of the Toniic community. #toniic #impactinvesting #climateinvesting #climateaction https://lnkd.in/en2JEnXc

🆕 There was no old boys network to break into in the growth-stage of climate tech investing when the women at Blume Equity launched their first fund. Back in 2020, there were few funds of any sort dedicated to helping Europe’s climate solutions reach commercial scale. “The growth stage was this missing middle,” says Blume’s Clare Murray. “We saw it as a huge opportunity.” Blume is among a new crop of fund managers stepping up to address the shortage of growth capital for companies that have proven their technologies, and may even have found their first customers, but now need to scale up production – and their climate impact. Avaana Capital Ankur Capital Trellis Climate AiiM Partners Elemental Impact Shally Shanker Lara Pierpoint Eleanor Blagbrough Michelle Capiod Planet A Ventures SET Ventures Norrsken VC Aerones European Investment Bank (EIB) Fjärde AP-fonden (AP4) Impact Engine Wire Group British Patient Capital Rema Subramanian Swapna Gupta Anjali Bansal Ebb Carbon Dawn Lippert Avra van der Zee Ecologic Brands Jabil SupplyShift, a Sphera company https://hubs.li/Q02QKZN00