Speedinvest, one of Europe’s leading early-stage investors with more than EUR600 million AUM, today announces the launch of a new EUR80 million Climate & Industry Opportunity fund.
The fund will primarily provide long-term support for Speedinvest’s existing sustainability-oriented startups, while also targeting selected non-portfolio startups that are accelerating European industry’s efforts to digitise and decarbonise.
The fund will conduct follow-on funding for Speedinvest’s existing and growing portfolio of sustainability-focused investments, including TWAICE, Planetly, Sylvera, Greyparrot, and One.Five. The new fund will back these innovative companies through co-investments in new rounds via Speedinvest’s existing pro-rata rights, allowing them to scale further and help Europe achieve its target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Speedinvest’s Climate & Industry Opportunity fund has already invested in two of Speedinvest’s existing portfolio companies, including a EUR40m Series B round in mid-November in Packhelp, a Warsaw-based bespoke packaging platform that produces two-thirds of its products from recycled materials and supports customers in minimising the amount of packaging used for shipments. The fund has also participated in a Series D round in TIER Mobility, furthering their efforts to reduce pollution in cities by providing clean alternatives to traditional transportation.
In addition to joining growth rounds of Speedinvest’s existing portfolio the Climate & Industry Opportunity fund will selectively co-invest with top tier funds in later stage rounds of new startups that are creating the technologies to help the industrial sector digitise, decarbonise and improve its sustainability performance. With a third of all carbon dioxide emissions coming from the industrial and logistics sectors, Europe’s industrial tech startups will be essential for helping the continent to achieve its climate goals.
With a final close scheduled in Q2 2022, cornerstone investors in the fund include US-based New Enterprise Associates (NEA), one of the world’s largest venture capital funds. Alongside NEA, the fund has notable non-institutional investments from the industrial sector, including the technology company KNAPP, plastics and foam supplier Greiner AG and HEINZEL GROUP, Central Europe’s leading producer of pulp and paper.
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.”
All of the fund’s cornerstone strategic limited partners (LPs) will get exclusive access to Speedinvest’s corporate investor programme. This grants access to the deal flow of relevant startups, introductions to Speedinvest’s startups and to their technologies and insights into developing technology trends. In addition, cornerstone investors will have access to a comprehensive events programme that includes exclusive networking opportunities and startup demo days.
Scott Sandell, Managing General Partner at NEA, says: “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.”
