The start-up develops and produces high-performance battery cells for air taxis and electric aircraft.
(Photo: obs)
Berlin Investing is about returns. Dozens of venture capitalists in the US and Europe – including Microsoft investor Tiger Global and Twitter financier Union Square Ventures – now want to include the climate aspect in their investment decisions.
They founded the climate alliance VCA for this purpose. “The ultimate goal is to trim the entire industry for climate-neutral investments,” says the partner of the Berlin venture capitalist World Fund, which specializes in climate technology, Danijel Visevic, the Handelsblatt.
In concrete terms, Allianz wants to define a path to climate neutrality for young start-ups and support them in its implementation. Among other things, emissions and other climate-damaging factors are measured and evaluated for this purpose. So far, there has only rarely been a uniform assessment of the climate opportunities for start-ups. The World Fund, which is involved in the battery start-up Customcells and Cylib, among others, is considered one of the pioneers in this area and has been conducting such a potential analysis for a long time.
The Berlin investor, along with 22 others, is one of the co-founders of the VCA Climate Alliance, which now wants to grow strongly. Visevic does not see a contradiction in the lenders’ pursuit of returns: “In a world of decarbonization, it is quite likely that the companies that contribute to this will be among the most valuable of the next decade,” says Visevic.
Corresponding investments could bring correspondingly high profit. Since the peak of the corona crisis, many bubbles have burst, for example in the fintech, crypto or quick commerce sectors. With the VCA tools, on the other hand, it is possible to avoid investing in companies that do not “solve real problems”.
Venture capitalists want to help fight the climate catastrophe
“It’s critical that the venture capital industry join the fight against climate change and bring their expertise in building companies,” said Samson Mesele, partner at Union Square Ventures.
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According to Visevic, the sponsors of the funds are now attaching more importance to investors getting involved in climate technologies. There is also a tailwind in this striving from politics. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the USA and the Net Zero Industry Act with its specific market specifications for individual areas of emission-free industries in the EU ensured that the whole thing took on a new significance.
However, the World Fund partner now sees the advantages in the USA. “Thanks to the IRA, the USA has made significant progress in a comparatively short time in terms of the attractiveness of the location and subsidies,” he says. At the same time, he warns against letting the interest rate turnaround and the difficult overall economic situation dissuade you from investing in climate start-ups: “The climate crisis is not getting any less just because times are becoming more uncertain.”
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