Vireo Newsletter - September Edition

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

As summer comes to a close, we hope this newsletter finds you in a relaxed state of mind after enjoying some well-deserved time off during the quieter months. For us, the holiday season has finally wrapped up, and we’ve returned to the office energized and full of ambition to kick off our post-summer sprint.

One might assume that not much could have happened over the summer slowdown, but in fact, quite a bit has accumulated over the past few weeks to fill this edition.

New Investment Rounds

We now have 11 portfolio companies in our Vireo Electrification Fund. The two most recent additions are Lichtwart and ZeroMission.

Lichtwart: An exceptional team, consisting of two successful entrepreneurs from the lighting industry, joined by Relayr Co-Founder Jackson Bond, has set out to “make the Milky Way visible again.” Their IoT service platform for lighting management addresses three major issues facing their customers: the shortage of skilled workers in the electrical industry, rising energy costs for every installation, and regulatory pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Lichtwart is particularly focused on outdoor lighting near buildings and counts several prominent names among its customers, including SCHüCO, HanseMerkur, VARTA, and one of the world’s largest signage companies in the world, the Joseph Group.

With the successful closing of the funding round, Lichtwart will build a broad set of services on top of energy efficiency, aimed at the full life cycle of lighting devices. This includes service and maintenance of onboarded devices and will help customers to manage light installation even more cost-effectively.

ZeroMission:? The Irish company has successfully raised $3 million to grow its electric bus and truck fleet management platform and plans to expand further in Europe and the US. The round, led by Delta Partners VC and Greencode Ventures, along with our support and that of high-profile angel investors, will be used to accelerate product development and expand ZeroMission's commercial reach.

ZeroMission addresses the urgent need to decarbonize fleets amid growing pressure to reduce emissions and meet environmental targets. Founded in 2022 by Leah O'Dwyer and Kevin Christopher, ZeroMission provides a comprehensive software platform for fleet operators to support the efficient deployment and management of electric vehicles at scale. Its integrated platform provides real-time information on vehicles and charging stations, optimizing energy use and costs.

We are also excited about successful follow-on rounds within our portfolio, including:

ECO2GROW: Our portfolio company in the virtual PPA space has closed a €4 million financing round with participation from neoteq and NRW.Bank. Their innovative, AI-powered platform makes green energy more accessible to SMEs by enabling them to purchase green electricity directly from solar and wind farms. Alongside neoteq ventures, NRW.BANK, and us, pre-seed co-investors such as Techstars and industry veterans like Stefan Mueller (enerparc) and Axel Thiemann (Sonnedix) were part of the round.

Amperecloud: This portfolio company has also raised another round, a Series A extension led by Encevo, bringing total funds raised above the €10 million mark. We also participated in this round, as did Point Nine and other existing shareholders. Amperecloud allows owners and operators of renewable energy plants to manage their entire portfolios on a single platform, enhancing efficiency. Over 400 O&Ms across Europe now manage 5 GWp+ on the Amperecloud platform.

ChargeEuropa, one of our pre-fund portfolio companies, has successfully raised a follow-on funding round led by Shift4Good, with support from Simpact Ventures, MobilityFund, and Canard Ventures. This investment will help ChargeEuropa expand its footprint across Poland and the Central and Eastern European region. The company’s advanced DOOH/EV charging technology integrates digital advertising with EV charging, providing a unique and efficient solution for the growing electric vehicle market.

We’re Hiring!

With a growing portfolio and work to do on all fronts, now is the right time for us to complement our team at the junior level with another analyst. We are looking to add someone to our Berlin team to work primarily in the office. Venture capital is a challenging industry with a steep learning curve that benefits greatly from “incidental learning”: learning through observation and osmosis that can only happen by being physically present in the same room.

If you know of any junior talent in your network, please direct them to our job opening.

Unlocking the Future of AgriPV: A Call for Start-ups

AgriPV is rapidly expanding across Europe, transitioning from small-scale pilot projects to large-scale commercial installations. Recent research indicates that dedicating just 1% of Europe’s agricultural land to AgriPV could generate up to 944 GW of solar power. This capacity not only underscores the vast potential of AgriPV and suggests it could significantly surpass the EU’s renewable energy target of 710 GW of additional capacity by 2030, playing a pivotal role in Europe’s sustainable energy transition.

We are excited to support the AgriVoltaics Industry Forum Europe, taking place on November 5-6, 2024, in Madrid, Spain. In collaboration with our friends from Amperecloud and Conexio-PSE, Vireo Ventures will host a dedicated session that provides an excellent platform for emerging companies to showcase their innovations to a diverse group of industry stakeholders.?

Apply by September 30, 2024, to present your company at The AgriVoltaics Forum!

Forum Solar Plus: Call for Start-ups

We’re also hosting a 2-hour start-up session at the upcoming ForumSolarPLUS in Berlin this November. This event will bring together industry leaders, policymakers, and innovative minds to address current challenges and explore future opportunities for the European solar sector.

Apply here to be a part of our start-up session if you are running an innovative start-up in the solar space!

Events

With the summer slowdown behind us, we’re gearing up for the upcoming event season. Here are a few of the conferences and meet-ups we’ll be attending—let us know if you’ll be at any of these so we can meet up for a coffee!

16-17 Oct: Tech Tour Sustainable Construction, Lausanne

16-17 Oct: EIT The Business Booster, Barcelona

22 Oct: EIF Ugly Duck, Luxembourg

22-24 Oct: Enlit, Milan

06-07 Nov: Impact Week, Barcelona

20-21 Nov: Slush, Helsinki

We Appreciate You!

All the best,

Felix, Matthias, Mischa, Sandro, Sven, and Thomas