Cimbria Capital - 2021 New Year's Letter

By Brian V. Iversen, Founder and Managing Partner of Cimbria Capital

Although New Year’s letters such as this one are meant to be mostly forward-looking, the year we just left behind was undeniably unique and, in more ways than one, historic. On behalf of my entire team, I therefore wish to acknowledge the hardship, pain, and suffering so many were forced to endure over the past 12 months due to the pandemic. To those who lost, our sincere and most heartfelt condolences. And to those who worked on the frontlines, thank you for your unwavering efforts and sacrifice. The rest of us will always be indebted to you.

From the perspective of the United States, 2020 was unfortunately also a year of many other problems, worries, and outright despair due to an unruly division within our political leadership echoing throughout even the most remote corners of our society. It has been worrisome, exhausting, and for some, devastating. I just pray and hope that this new year will be better, easier, and with less controversy and conflict.  If any of you would decide to request my opinion about what we can and should do better going forward, I would keep my advice simple in an aim to be only constructive and positive.

My genuine hope is that we, as individuals and as a society, will adopt an increased willingness to give each other the ‘benefit of the doubt’ instead of reacting with instant enmity or skepticism, which have already triggered far too much distance and fear. During times of upheaval, it is easy to forget that all of us –independent of culture, country, religion, race, skin color, gender, and sexual orientation – are much more the same than we are different. It is also easy to forget that nearly all of us act and react within reason inside our own personal paradigm.

 To allow for the recognition of paradigms different than our own, I propose for all of us to take enough time to allow for ‘benefit of doubt’ in our responses and reactions to others, even when met with opinions and actions that may seem foreign. – Pausing and ‘taking a deep breath’ allows for ‘benefit of the doubt’ and facilitates our acknowledgement, awareness, understanding, and even appreciation of others, despite certain immediate and superficial differences. Most often it will also teach us that our nuances, differences, and diversity make the world a better and more interesting place, not the opposite.   

 “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

 Looking forward here at Cimbria, even after a year with commercial efforts more focused on defense than offense, we are excited about how the future is unfolding, and we have already created significant and renewed commercial momentum inside both Cimbria Consulting and our investment and fundraising efforts related to Cimbria Oasis Fund 3. Specifically, we allowed ourselves to kick off the new year a few weeks early via two milestone transactions during the last days of December.

 First, we joined forces with Christina Alfonso via an acquisition of Madeira Global, a leading environmental, social and governance ("ESG") advisory, analytics and reporting firm. Christina has for a decade been a trailblazer in the ESG arena as Co-founder and CEO of Madeira Global. As part of this transaction, Christina took a position as ESG Sr. Advisor with Cimbria and will in her new role help oversee ESG integration in Cimbria’s investment process and serve as a direct advisor to the firm's investment committee and executive team. A very warm welcome to Christina. We look forward to working with and learning from her expertise. Read more about the Madeira Global acquisition and Christine Alfonso here: “Cimbria Capital acquires Madeira Global”

 Secondly, we reached a significant and valuable milestone for AMI Global, Cimbria’s first water-tech portfolio company acquired in 2017. On the last day of 2020, AMI Global introduced Scandinavian conglomerate Alfa Laval as an investment partner. Congratulations to AMI’s executive team, CEO Henrik S. Laursen, CTO Ori Peled, and CSIO David Drake. A job well done and the kick-off to an exciting future. Read more about AMI and Alfa Laval here: “Alfa Laval acquires stake in AMI Global”

These transactions, an attractive pipeline of investment opportunities, as well as several new contracts already entered by Cimbria Consulting make me conclude that there is a bright light shining at the end of the tunnel. Again, I speak for my entire team, when stating a desire to get back to work in a fuller and more normal fashion. The commercial opportunities are still out there, guaranteed. Inside Cimbria’s focus sectors - water, agriculture, and renewable energy - the opportunity set is arguably expanding, due to an ever-increasing need and urgency related to infrastructure and digital transformation. Cimbria has since its inception aimed to be a leader and thought-leader in our sectors. - One of the most important components of leadership is possessing positive energy and creating positive energy for others. Cimbria is entering 2021 with a goal of delivering such energy in our small but focused effort in righting our economy and society for more stability.

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Since many of us have been forced to deem 2020 a negligible year commercially, I will allow myself to repeat several of my words from last year’s letter…

I am very proud being a member of Cimbria’s team and of the milestones already reached. But nothing compares to the excitement of the future. We are welcoming a new decade [and a nearing post-Covid environment] with a readiness to achieve additional milestones and to further strengthen Cimbria’s position as a change-agent in water, agriculture, renewable energy, and resiliency. In other words, we are just getting started.

With this in mind, I wish all of you – friends, colleagues, business partners, and investors - a healthy, prosperous, and happy 2021. We at Cimbria thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to updating you on our progress and developments in the new year via our website, newsletters, and LinkedIn.

Happy New Year!

Brian V. Iversen, Founder and Managing Partner, Cimbria Capital