b2venture

“Being an investor is a rewarding and fascinating job,” writes b2venture Partner Andreas Goeldi in a recent article for Gründerszene. “What I enjoy most is giving feedback to entrepreneurs, regardless of whether we make an investment or not. This is because the best VCs I have dealt with as an entrepreneur have always been generous with detailed feedback. I have always appreciated that.” Here are a few of Andreas’ most important lessons: 𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. 𝟮. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄. 𝟯. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘆. 𝟰. 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹. 𝟱. 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹, 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 & 𝗹𝘂𝗰𝗸. 𝟲. 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀. 🔎 🔎 Read all of his lessons and why he thinks they are important here (in German🇨🇭 🇩🇪 🇦🇹 ) --> https://lnkd.in/dzFGsfee 🔎 🔎 His original post (in English 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇦) can be found here --> https://lnkd.in/dzV5M6dr

🌬 ☀ 🏢 ♻ The energy sector has become a central focal point for innovators as climate change, technological advancements, increasing geopolitical tensions, and rising energy demand make transitioning to more sustainable and efficient energy sources one of our most important challenges. A new wave of startups in the energy sector have been emerging at a quickening pace, especially in Europe, where VC funding in the Energy sector rose 5% in Q1 2024 to USD 13.7 billion from the same period last year. Energy was thereby the largest category for investments in Europe, raising a total of USD 3.1 billion for the fourth consecutive quarter. b2venture's Johanna Junkermann explores the emergence of #EnergyTech as a vital area of innovation, investment, and company creation in her latest blogpost. 🔎 🔎 Read her complete analysis on how the market for EnergyTech is developing here  ➡ https://lnkd.in/d-Dk7SKT

We are very pleased to announce some more promotions in our team! 🎉 🎉 Jasper Strohkark has been named Associate in the Direct Investments team, and Damian Zaker takes on the role of Investment Manager in the b2venture Fund team. Since joining b2venture, both Jasper and Damian have demonstrated enormous resourcefulness, determination, and curiosity with an entrepreneurial mindset for getting things done - characteristics we cherish at our firm. 💙 💙 From Jasper: “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝟮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲.” From Damian: “𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺, 𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀-𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱-𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁.” 🔎🔎 Also check out Damian's post "Generative AI: An Investor's Perspective" ➡ https://lnkd.in/eX7u6UTr Please join us in celebrating Damian and Jasper as they take us and our community to the next level! 🥂🥂 Together we fly.

🚨🚨 Very excited to share the news about our investment in Orus Energy, which has closed a EUR 2.2 million pre-seed round led by b2venture and top French impact funds Asterion Ventures and Ring Capital. The company has built a demand-side flexibility platform enabling commercial building operators to automatically shift energy consumption during peak energy periods. “The power grid has become the Achilles' heel of the energy transition. The rise of intermittent renewable energy on one hand, and the increased electrification of uses with the advent of electric vehicles and heat pumps on the other, are putting more and more pressure on the power grid” says Fanny Sauvée,  COO and co-founder at Orus Energy. “The grid's critical role in balancing production and consumption at all times is becoming increasingly challenged.” Orus Energy is transforming the way buildings interact with electricity markets. By optimizing the aggregated flexibility of numerous buildings, Orus' software dynamically adjusts energy usage, shifting it to times when electricity is cheapest and greenest, thus providing valuable flexibility to the electricity grid. Orus Energy’s next steps are focused on developing new high-impact features and helping a wider range of customers. “Alexandre, Fanny and Théophile form a great team that is tackling huge problems” says Florian Schweitzer, Founding Partner of b2venture. “Making smarter use of our energy grid and leveling out peak demand and supply of energy can have a huge impact on society and bring enormous benefits to the economy.” 🔎 🔎 Read Johanna Junkermann’s post about why we invested in Orus Energy ➡ https://lnkd.in/dyBM5nFP More news on the financing round can be found in the comments!

🎉 🎉 We are thrilled to announce Sabrina Stöckl’s promotion to Principal. She has been an integral part of our Direct Investments team since joining b2venture in 2021, working with our business angels and fund teams and focusing on life sciences, biotech, and healthtech. She studied business, receiving a Bachelor’s degree from the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and began her career in investment banking focusing on equities and capital markets. After leaving investment banking, Sabrina did a double Master’s in Management and Innovation at the HEC Paris and Technical University of Munich, working with founders and startups at UnternehmerTUM. "The passion and conviction of founders as they shared their ideas and visions for the future never fails to give me goosebumps. I love venture capital as it allows me to explore a diverse range of topics and see what the future might look like," she explains. Having experienced the pain and suffering of chronic disease in her innermost circle, Sabrina was determined to invest in areas where medical breakthroughs and innovation could have the biggest impact. She is particularly interested in oncology and neurodegenerative diseases and has developed a life-long passion for solutions that address longevity. “I consider it a privilege to work with our inspiring community of business angels every day. Their incredible wealth of knowledge, experience and mindset are a great source of energy.” Her portfolio companies include Medical Microinstruments, Inc. and eGenesis, Inc.. “Sabrina has been an important part of our success since coming on board, helping take our investments in the life sciences to the next level while developing deep connections to other life sciences investors, as well as the experts in our angel community and adding to its vibrancy,“ says b2venture partner Christian Schütz. Please join us in congratulating Sabrina! 🍾 🍾

Apple recently launched Private Cloud Compute, aimed at enhancing the security and privacy of large language models (LLMs) and their Apple Intelligence, effectively closing the circle of secure computing from device to the cloud. 📱 ☁ The umbrella term for this suite of technologies is #confidentialcomputing, a technology which our portfolio company Decentriq has been working on for some time. The company’s data clean rooms are the only data analysis platform deeply integrated with confidential computing, allowing their users to combine and analyze even their most sensitive data in a protected environment. ⛔ 🚫 Yet Apple only showed how this technology can be used to protect personal data in interacting with Apple devices. What about the rest of a user’s sensitive data? Personal data that ends up on websites, hospitals, and doctors you visit, for example, is going to eventually be processed by an LLM as well, and we need to prepare for this new world. With assistants like the new Siri or other LLM agents, sensitive user data comes pre-packaged with a model that is able to interpret and combine them. No one wants a model which knows their health or personal history to fall into the wrong hands. That’s why we are excited to see the team at Decentriq preview an open-source LLM running in a confidential computing environment in their data clean rooms. 🔎 🔎 Read more about Decentriq’s upcoming new feature that leverages open-source LLMs,  allowing users to combine their sensitive data and query it, all within the secure confines of data clean rooms. https://lnkd.in/esA5sEks cc Stefan Deml Maximilian Groth

With all the challenges that founders confront on a daily basis, it's easy to lose sight of what's really important. b2venture partner Andreas Goeldi has long believed 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦-𝗰𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿. It drives almost everything in innovation. And although it looks simple, it is incredibly difficult to grasp in practice. He recently wrote about how he thinks about S-curves and why they can seem counter-intuitive for Gründerszene. 🔎 🇩🇪🇨🇭 Read the entire post (in German) here --> https://lnkd.in/d2W4Q4mm 🔎 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 The english version is available on Andreas' personal website here --> https://lnkd.in/d5SyWwQ

🇪🇺 ☀ 💜 Our portfolio company 1KOMMA5° has become the leading solar installer in Europe, according to EUPD Research, growing rapidly through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. The Hamburg-based company has now installed around 280,000 components and supports over 100,000 customers. Less than three years after the company was founded, 1KOMMA5° has grown to over 75 locations and around 2,200 employees in 7 countries, including Germany, Sweden, Spain, Australia and the Netherlands. The renewable energy platform is aiming for an annual turnover of 10 billion euros by 2030! 🔥 🔥 Congratulations to Philipp Schröder and the entire team! Read more here https://lnkd.in/dF-BmmsN

b2venture Partner Andreas Goeldi recently sat down with Kim Torster from Gründerszene to talk about his own journey from serial entrepreneur to VC investor, what he looks for from founders and founder teams, and why founders shouldn't take rejection personally. What are some of his best practices for founders that are fundraising? 𝟭. 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 “𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴” 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 — Depending on the context, your investors can help you in many ways with introductions, resources, industry expertise, and strategic advice. Think early about what you want from an investor. 𝟮. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 — Even if you’re not fundraising or if they passed in previous rounds, update them every quarter or so (email is fine, a quick call is better) about your progress. They will get to know you, and you will understand their perspective better too. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 — Are you going to be happy with a medium-sized exit after a few years? Or are you aiming for an IPO? Many scenarios along this spectrum are totally legitimate and common, as long as it works for the founding team, but these expectations will guide which kind of investor is best for you. 👂👂 Listen to the entire podcast here --> https://lnkd.in/dsApyXaf

🗳 🤖 🚨 Elections in 2024 are on everyone's minds this year with AI-generated deepfakes on the rise. Their impact on our politics is only beginning to be felt and journalists are particularly challenged to find and vet sources and information that isn't manipulated. That is why we are particularly proud of what our portfolio company LatticeFlow AI has accomplished. As the leading platform for building trustworthy AI applications, they just announced LatticeFlow AI Audio, the first product designed to find and identify model errors in audio AI applications in addition to the company’s already existing product for computer vision. In under one minute, LatticeFlow AI Audio uncovers critical blind spots and traces back their root causes, establishing trust and safety in audio and speech AI models from the beginning. This product equips AI teams with deep insights to build and deploy safe, trustworthy, and top-performing models across various use cases, and sets a new benchmark for AI model performance and security, empowering our customers to leverage multimodal AI applications, including images, speech, speech-to-text, and audio. 💡 “We believe that there is no place for deepfakes in civil, ethical societies,” said Dr. Petar Tsankov, Co-founder and CEO at LatticeFlow AI. “Ethical, safe, and trustworthy AI are the foundational values of our company – and why we want to help address deepfakes detection in advance of the 2024 elections. LatticeFlow AI Audio is the industry’s only product that can automatically find and identify AI audio data and model errors, enabling our clients to rapidly develop more accurate AI deepfake detection applications.” 🔎 🔎 Read more here. https://lnkd.in/deejR3Ay #AudioAI #trustworthyAI #MachineLearning #DeepFakes #TechNews #LatticeFlowAI