Speedinvest set for Climate & Industry fund close after H1 slowdown

The fund held a first close on EUR 45m in November 2021 and expected to hold a final close in 2Q22, as reported by Unquote. However, Speedinvest stopped fundraising during the first two quarters of 2022 as it came across a hold back from industrial LPs to respond to its fundraising efforts, lead industrial technology general partner Marie-Helene Ametsreiter told Unquote.

“With the war in Ukraine in full swing, investors were focussing on how to manage the energy crisis coming forward, rather than investing in a fund,” she said. After the summer break the sponsor started to see increased interest from investors for the fund, she added.

After six investments, the fund is now close to 30% deployed, said Ametsreiter. Investments include deployments in five existing portfolio startups – Packhelp, TIER Mobility, TWAICE, CoachHub and Schüttflix – as well as one initial investment in Toucan, a Web3 carbon market infrastructure provider, she said.

The vehicle mainly backs companies in its existing portfolio that are focused on digitalisation and decarbonisation and will target returns of 20% IRR, as reported. It will use around 80%-90% of its capital to make co-investments in funding rounds alongside Speedinvest's existing funds. It invests EUR 3m-EUR 5m per deal, backing 12-14 companies and generally participating in Series B rounds.

Investors
With New Enterprise Associates as a cornerstone investor, the fund had other 26 LPs as of November 2021, including financial and institutional investors among its LP base, Ametsreiter said. The majority of the investors come from the industrial space, including big listed companies and privately held companies across several sectors, from machinery producers, pulp and paper manufacturers to big logistics atomisation companies, she added.

These companies include industrial automation business Knapp; plastics and foam supplier Greiner; and paper producer Heinzel Group, as reported.

Big industrial investors’ participations come with access to Speedinvest’s corporate programme, she said. “We are very much fostering and supporting collaboration between the startup world and the established world, so we provide to these investors access to curated deal flow, startups that are relevant to them and their innovation efforts.”

According to Ametsreiter, Speedinvest’s research has shown that corporate investment in startups during 1H22 has already surpassed the investment volume of 2021 in its entirety, said Ametsreiter.

In contrast, the firm has seen a slowdown in the pace of investment from institutional investors, which it attributes to uncertainty in the current market environment, she said. However, she still believes that venture as an asset class will stay attractive and will pick up again as innovation is often the solution to the energy, supply chain and climate crisis.

Investment volumes this year have doubled compared to 2021 because industrial and climate tech are verticals with less volatility compared to fintech and B2C startups, she said. Deep tech, enterprise or B2B verticals that tend to be in the industrial space, have much healthier fundamental business economics and valuations corrections have less impact on them, she added.

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• Topics
• Venture
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• Industrials
• DACH
• Austria