Impact investors Green Generation Fund has announced its first generation €100 million fund. The Berlin-based team are investing in Europe and the US, supporting innovators that are creating more sustainable approaches and solutions.
The impact investment space is starting to pick up pace. It’s now being increasingly recognised that investment and impact can go hand in hand. Entrepreneurs, businesses and organisations are now starting to build processes and strategies that are underpinned by sustainability and it seems like a new era, or generation, of green investment is emerging.
Recently, the Portuguese impact finance platform GoParity announced it was accepting overfunding after the successful launch of its crowdfunding campaign. Nordic-headquartered Summa Equity expanded across the Atlantic and we have had funds like Polestar Capital’s €100 million fund open up. At EU-Startups, we have also chatted to prominent food tech investors, impact investors such as Tim He and green tech entrepreneurs like Ellen Moeller to learn more about how Europe is paving the way in sustainability and impact-driven ventures.
Now, a Berlin-based firm has joined the mission: Green Generation Fund, a women-led firm dedicated to food and green tech innovation.
Green Generation Fund
Founded in 2021, Green Generation Fund is turning heads for a couple of reasons. The fund invests in disruptive technologies at seed stages to enable breakthroughs in food tech and green tech – two verticals that are crucial in shaping the future. The firm supports passionate, mission-driven founders who build game-changing companies within the realm of environmental sustainability, the single most urgent goal of humankind.
It’s entirely female-led, which is, unfortunately, still a rarity in the investment space.
It was launched in Berlin by Dr. Manon Sarah Littek and Janna Ensthaler. Manon has held roles as Board Director at Upfield (world’s largest, KKR-backed plant-based company) former sole GP at Katjesgreenfood (Europe’s first branded food impact investor) and DLD Ventures (CVC vehicle of Hubert Burda Media’s digital branch). Meanwhile, Janna is a former management consultant (Bain & Company), Al Gore Antarctica Alumni and is a serial entrepreneur founder of several start-ups in various verticals including food (Kaiserwetter), cosmetics (Glossybox) and software (Event Inc).
Dr. Manon Sarah Littek said: “Our actions in the next three years will define how we will live as humankind in the decades and generations to come. It’s a turning point to a liveable future and we believe that the solutions will be found in disruptive innovations and bold moves from strong entrepreneurs in the field of green tech and food tech. We want to select and back these entrepreneurs and be part of the solution.”
Janna Ensthaler commented: “I am convinced that we can make the German and European economy fit for the future, above all, by identifying the ecosystems of the future today and then building them up as quickly as possible in competition with other regions of the world and occupying them for ourselves. Our food tech and green tech investment categories are two of the most important future industries of the coming decades.”
The Fund
Investing across Europe and the US, Green Generation Fund has announced its €100 million fund. It’s already backed its first 8 portfolio companies and will deploy the capital across 20-25 ventures in food tech and green tech.
Since the inception of the Green Generation Fund, the two founding partners have co-led the funding rounds of eight portfolio companies, including Neggst (first vegan egg with separated yolk / white / shell), Biomilq (cell-cultured breast milk), Libre (meat substitutes based on mycelium/fungi), Lypid (plant-based solution mimicking fat tissue), Change Foods (cheese substitute based on recombinant protein) and The Rainforest Company (superfood protecting the amazon rainforest) in food tech as well as Klim (carbon offsetting app to promote regenerative agriculture) and One Five (R&D platform for plastic packaging alternatives) in green tech.
Janna: “We rely on founders who develop solutions for the big problems of our time. Our start-up Neggst alone, which can do away with mass-laying batteries for eggs and instead offer plant-based alternatives, can save around 1% of global CO2 emissions through resource-saving production.”
The startups receiving investment all share something in common – they are using tech to fuel a transformation towards a more sustainable, ethical and healthy global ecosystem. They leverage developments in the fields of carbon emissions, circular economy, resource and climate protection, animal welfare, biodiversity and health promotion.
Janna Ensthaler commented: “Not only players like Bill Gates (book “How to avoid a Climate Crisis), Elon Musk (100M Fund launched in 2021 for the best carbon capturing methods), or Larry Fink, CEO of Black Rock (the largest investment company in the world) talk about the topic of CO2 reduction and sustainability as the most important topic of our time. Governments around the world are also increasingly recognizing the obligation to promote this topic both through strong regulations and massive subsidies. Generation Z and Millennials are also fed up with factory farming and a life that pushes our blue planet to its limits. These generations in particular will insist on the plant-based food revolution and the incorporation of CO2-reducing and more sustainable measures. This is where we invest.”
Influential backers
The fund’s LP base includes, next to anchor investors Kaltroco (UK family office) and Florian Wendelstadt (former MD General Atlantic), a number of other well-known international investors such as Canica (Switzerland/Norway), Corecam Capital Partners (Singapore) and Liesner & Co. (Hamburg). This is in addition to several mission-driven high-net-worth individuals.
Funds such as Equation and Aldea, as well as institutional investors such as KfW Capital have also made significant contributions.
It’s also gained traction with industry experts such as Susan Danziger with Albert Wenger (Eutopia), Ex Aldi CEO Dr. Marc Heussinger, Peter Dill (Deutsche See), Dr. Anne-Marie Großmann (Georgsmarienhütte) and Babor (Aachen) are invested in the GGF as well as founders and multipliers such as Delia Lachance (Westwing), Lea Cramer (Amorelie) and Verena Pausder (“Das Neue Land”).
Dr. Manon Sarah Littek added: “We differentiate ourselves from other impact funds in the space through sector expertise and a clear focus on a few, selectively chosen categories. The green revolution, which began just a few years ago in the food sector with sustainability-oriented, plant-based retail brands, now extends across the entire value chain of food products and related consumer goods. As part of our investment strategy, we usually invest with the ambition to obtain significant shareholdings (10%+) in companies with technology-centric solutions and accompany them throughout the entire growth phase until the exit.”
via https://www.AiUpNow.com
August 9, 2022 at 07:21AM by contact@bcurdy.com (Patricia Allen), Khareem Sudlow
