Dusseldorf Most funds look to their investments for the chance of high returns. In the emerging market for air conditioning technologies, however, many are pursuing a completely different strategy. Like Daria Saharova, serial tech investor, with the newly founded World Fund.
Money is only given to those who save emissions with their inventions or who make a positive contribution to the climate. The first start-ups that Saharova and her partners selected produced chocolate with cocoa beans from the laboratory to save CO2, or reusable coffee mugs for cafes. Saharova says: “We believe that the big global problems need technological solutions, and every young company needs a lot of capital for this.”
And it has an ambitious goal: “That is why we want to become the largest climate-tech fund in Europe.” In the fight against global warming and in order to become climate-neutral in the next decade, start-ups with technological innovations are not only essential, they also need one Amount of money.
In Germany alone, 22.7 billion euros would have to be invested in climate-relevant technologies in order to achieve climate neutrality before 2045, calculated the German Energy Agency (Dena) in a report. For food and agriculture alone, around three billion euros in venture capital are required annually, and almost six billion in the energy sector, according to the report.
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So far there are only a few venture capitalists in Germany specifically for air-conditioning technology start-ups. Nikolas Samios, head of the ESG working group of the Federal Association of German Start-ups, confirms this: “We now have a handful of such funds that invest specifically in climate tech, but there is a scene that is growing.” Its size if the World Fund were still on its own, says Samios.
“Most funds concentrate purely on very early-stage investments, but at the same time there are start-ups with advanced innovations that need more investment,” says Yasha Tarani, CEO of The Climate Choice, himself a start-up that has a B2B Has built a platform for climate-relevant solutions.
One of the biggest in the climate tech sector
In any case, the World Fund should be worth 350 million euros by next year, more than half of which Saharova and her team already have together. With the sum, the fund is already one of the largest in Europe that specializes in air conditioning technologies.
The founders of the World Fund have already been able to win Rolf Schrömgens, co-founder of Trivago, series founder Verena Pausder and the investment platform for digital sustainability, Econos, as partners. The fund has also already closed its first deals.
Daria Saharova herself has 15 years of experience with investments. The Latvian studied business administration in Munich, worked as an investment banker and also founded an e-commerce company. She later led the early-stage investor of the Viessmann family business, Vito One. Saharova was honored in the “Best Investor” category at the German Start-up Awards last year. “That evening the idea for the World Fund was born,” recalls Saharova.
Because their co-founders were also there and received awards, such as Tim Schumacher as the best investor. Christian Kroll, who founded the search engine Ecosia, was named best social entrepreneur. “Then we thought about how we should continue from there,” says Saharova. Then there were Danijel Visevic, who previously worked for impact investor Planet A, and climate technology investor Craig Douglas.
The first investment went to cleantech start-up Qoa
A first investment by the World Fund went to the cleantech start-up Qoa. The manufacturer produces cocoa-free chocolate to offer an alternative to the raw material that is often associated with deforestation of the rainforest, CO2 emissions through the supply chain and child labor. Another investment by the World Fund so far is Recup, a start-up in the growth phase that produces to-go cups in a deposit system in order to make disposable products superfluous.
The cocoa-free chocolate start-up Qoa is one of the first start-ups in the World Fund’s portfolio.
(Photo: Qoa)
The World Fund supported the food start-ups with a seven-figure amount in their early phase, while Recup received growth financing. “This is how we want to differentiate ourselves from other funds,” says Daria Saharova, “we are a multi-stage fund and thus provide support in the early phases, but also in growth.”
Investors now want to invest primarily in start-ups from sectors that, as Saharova says, “are among the five largest CO2 pests as industries”. These include energy, construction, industry, mobility, as well as agriculture and food. According to its own information, the World Fund is primarily interested in young companies that produce alternative meat, energy storage solutions or intelligent charging infrastructure, and “disruptive companies with the potential to become market leaders”.
However, every supported start-up must first be able to prove that it can save at least 100 megatons of CO2 in greenhouse gas emissions every year. To measure how climate-friendly the individual start-ups really are, Saharova and her team collaborate with the NGO Project Drawdown, which helps organizations become climate-friendly, the Crane Tool, a software platform that can calculate the emission reduction potential of start-ups, and the Technical University of Berlin.
In-house measurement technology calculates how many greenhouse gases can occur
“Together we have developed a measurement technology to evaluate how much greenhouse gases can arise in a problematic market and what influence a climate start-up could have on it,” explains Saharova. TU professors would also carry out a risk analysis for every investment process.
According to the Climate 50 list, an annually published list of climate tech funds, there are around six funds in Europe that specialize in climate tech and have more than 100 million euros in their pot. These include, for example, the Scandinavian 2150 VC or 360 Capital from Paris.
In Germany, for example, the investor Revent, which started with around 50 million euros at the beginning of the year, supports start-ups up to Series A financing. The early-stage investor Speedinvest also recently started a new Greentech fund and is worth 80 to 100 million euros so far. Speedinvest’s portfolio includes well-known climate start-ups such as Sylvera and Planetly. Better ventures and Planet A also invest specifically in early-stage climate start-ups.
In any case, Nikolas Samios sees a growing scene of impact investors in Germany. “In Germany, the World Fund may be on its own with its size,” says Samios, “but it is also a foretaste of the fact that we will see many more funds in this area.”
More: No future for dirty business: Which investors are promoting the green restructuring of the economy with billions.