Aleksandra, Author at ETF Partners

UK investors turning down start-ups over poor sustainability credentials, says Amazon

26th May 2023 4:07 pm Comments Off

Coverage alert! 💥🌏

Our investor relations and sustainability manager, Zoe VanderWolk recently spoke to the Financial Times Business and Investment reporter Alex Janiaud to discuss the findings of a new Amazon study that showed UK investors opt not to invest in start-ups due to their weak ESG characteristics.

According to research by Amazon, the study revealed that Fifty-six percent of UK investors have turned down a start-up opportunity during the past year due to worries over a company’s sustainability credentials.

As Zoe explains, “We turn down companies all the time on the basis that they’re not impactful on the environment in the way that we would like to see.” She continued, “Embedding sustainability at an early stage of a company’s life makes sense. These things are always easier to put in place at the beginning when you’re smaller and when you don’t have to turn a Titanic around”.

Read the piece in full HERE.

Innovation Zero: Innovation & leadership in the low carbon transformation

12:38 pm Comments Off

Another day, another brilliant event! Today, our Managing Partners, Rob Genieser and Patrick Sheehan attended the jam-packed Innovation Zero event hosted by The International Clean Congress!

Patrick spoke on the British Business Bank’s panel: Zeroing in on Green Investment – alongside esteemed panellists Catherine Lewis La Torre, Scott Marshall, and Estia Ryan. The group discussed what cleantech VCs are looking for in potential impact and sustainability-focused investments and how they can make themselves more attractive to investors.

We want to thank the British Business Bank and our fantastic host, Catherine Lewis La Torre, for the invitation and sponsoring such an impactful and lively conversation.

More HERE.

Food Tech Congress 2023 | Fostering the food tech innovation

19th May 2023 4:11 pm Comments Off

We are delighted to share that our Managing Partner, Rob Genieser will be joining Food Tech Congress 2023 as a speaker!

Rob will be speaking on the panel ‘How can we create a sustainable, equitable and low carbon food system?’ and will be joined by fellow esteemed panellists, including:

♻️ Hanna Yael Gabay, Advisor at Beyond Investing
♻️ Giovanni Causapruno, Agrifood Business Unit Manager at xFarm Technologies
♻️ Felipe Castresano de Campos Lima, Vion Food Group
♻️ Sébastien Pellion, Global Head of Impact & Sustainability at Glovo
♻️ Caroline Lewis, Sustainable Agriculture Analyst at BloombergNEF

🗓 Wednesday, May 31, 2023 (Day 1)
⏱ 5:15 PM to 6:00 PM / 45 min. (CET)
📍 Main Stage, Sofitel Warsaw Victoria, Warsaw, Poland

Find out more about this year’s Food Tech Congress HERE.

Climate-focused food startups had a record 2022

18th May 2023 10:09 am Comments Off

This interesting article from Sifted explores how, against the generally ‘gloomy grain’ for tech, climate-focused food startups had a record 2022 and examines the prospects for future growth.

The article features wisdom from our very own Tomer Strikovsky on the growth differential between food products (#foodtech) and those focused on farming and agriculture (#agritech).

Read the full article HERE.

Invest Europe 40th Anniversary: Interviews TRAILER

17th May 2023 4:08 pm Comments Off

In March, our Managing Partner, Patrick Sheehan, attended Invest Europe’s flagship event, the Investors Forum in Geneva.

In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Invest Europe, Patrick was one of a select group of speakers asked to share their insights on the past, present, and future of Europe’s private equity and venture capital industry.

These interviews will soon be publicly available, but we are sharing a little #BTS of Patrick’s and the other participants’ contributions. We look forward to sharing Patrick’s full interview with you soon!

Watch below.

Episode 12: In Conversation with Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos, CEO & Co-founder DeepSea Technologies

15th May 2023 4:15 pm Comments Off

In our latest episode of Sustainability Talks, our Managing Partner Rob Genieser sits down with Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos to discuss one of the most significant issues of our time, AI and its potential role in making one of the world’s most critical industries more sustainable – the maritime industry.

Recognised in 2020 by Forbes as one of its ’30 under 30′, Konstantinos is a globally respected figure in cutting-edge AI solutions and a visionary CEO. Whether you’re interested in sustainability, the digital transformation of the maritime industry, AI generally, or specifically in the intersection of AI and sustainability, this one is for you.

About Dr. Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos

Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos is a Greek entrepreneur and the co-founder of DeepSea Technologies, a cutting-edge startup that develops artificial intelligence solutions for the maritime industry. Kyriakopoulos obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2011. Following this, he pursued his Master’s degree in Robotics, Systems and Control from ETH Zurich, where he gained a deep understanding of robotics and artificial intelligence.

After completing his studies, Kyriakopoulos worked as a researcher and software engineer at various companies, including SAP and CERN, where he gained valuable experience in software development and big data analysis. In 2017, Kyriakopoulos co-founded DeepSea with a vision to revolutionise the maritime industry with advanced AI technology.
As the CEO of DeepSea, he oversees the development of the company’s AI-driven solutions for optimizing vessel performance, reducing fuel consumption, and enhancing safety at sea. Kyriakopoulos has received numerous awards and recognition for his work at DeepSea, including being named on Forbes 30 Under 30 in Europe in the Technology category in 2020. His passion for AI and commitment to solving real-world problems has made him a respected figure in the tech industry.

Find out more about DeepSea HERE⁠
Follow Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos HERE

And don’t forget to subscribe to the Sustainability Talks podcast on your favourite podcast platform HERE.

Zoe VanderWolk shortlisted in the ‘ESG Professional of the Year’ category at The Drawdown Awards 2023!

12th May 2023 1:16 pm Comments Off

We’re extremely excited to share that our very own Zoe VanderWolk has been shortlisted in the ‘ESG Professional of the Year’ category at The Drawdown #share Awards, 2023!

Taking place on 7th June 2023, at the Hilton London Bankside, The Drawdown Awards celebrate excellence and innovation within private fund operations. The rigorous judging process, based on the views of a panel of leading private capital fund COOs, CFOs, CCOs, GCs and CTOs, ensures these awards stand out from the crowd as ‘ones to win’ and act as a catalyst to drive up service standards and operations across the sector.

Working with a judging panel of leading industry practitioners, these awards stand apart in both rigour and prestige.

Congratulations to Zoe on a well-deserved nomination, we look forward to celebrating at this year’s awards in June!

Find out more and see the full list of nominees HERE.

ETF Partners Newsletter – Issue #30

10th May 2023 5:24 pm Comments Off

What you’ve all been waiting for – the latest newsletter from ETF Partners! As usual, we are sharing the spiciest and most exciting news from across our portfolio companies and in the wider world of sustainability. ♻️💚

For our lead story this month we of course have to start with a huge congratulations to the Dexter Energy team on announcing their €10.5M Series B round to expand its AI-based renewable power generation forecasting markets and double its team! We are proud to lead this round and are delighted to invest alongside Astelia, Newion, Rockstart, and PDENH.

Additional highlights from our team:

♻️ We are proud to have been nominated for the Environmental, Social, and Governance (#ESG) in VC award at the 2023 Real Deals Media Private Equity Awards.
♻️ Our Managing Partner, Rob Genieser, was invited to speak at this year’s MIT Global Startup Workshop (MIT GSW) conference
♻️ Our Investment Manager Tomer Strikovsky took part in the ‘Investors on Stage’ session during this year’s EU-Startups Summit

…And from our portfolio:

♻️ Zeelo published their inaugural impact report for 2022
♻️ FAIRLY MADE® launched a new and exciting partnership with leading French fashion brand @ba&sh
♻️ Shippeo announced a partnership with Setlog | Rethink digital supply chains, a new customer win with Amazon and opened a new office in Chicago
♻️ DeepSea Technologies shared a new article on the difference between traditional weather routing and its performance routing, showcasing its exciting potential to reduce CO2 emissions
♻️ Intigriti became a founding member and the sole EU representative of the Hacking Policy Council
♻️ Net Purpose was selected as one of the 5th cohort of startups in Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking – SGCIB, SGCI’s Global Markets Incubator (GMI) programme
♻️ Basemark has been chosen as one of the top XR automotive vendors for 2023 by industry experts in @XR Today
♻️ GenPhoenix raised $18 Million in a recent funding round in partnership with @Material Impact, Dr. Martens plc, InMotion Ventures, and Tapestry to scale sustainable next-gen material innovation

Read all these stories in our latest newsletter HERE.

‘’We want to enable a fully sustainable electricity grid’’ — a Q&A with Dexter Energy CEO, Luuk Veeken

4th May 2023 10:29 am Comments Off

We’re excited to share a brand new Medium blog featuring Luuk Veeken, the CEO & Founder of our newest portfolio company Dexter Energy.

Dexter Energy is the leading provider of AI-based renewable power generation forecasting and trade optimisation products. In this Q&A we find out more about Luuk and why he founded Dexter Energy. We also get Luuk’s thoughts on what needs to be done to help with the energy transition.

Read the piece in full HERE.

Net Purpose selected as one of the 5th cohort of startups in SGCI’s Global Markets Incubator programme

25th April 2023 4:43 pm Comments Off

Whoop whoop! Our portfolio company Net Purpose has been selected as one of the 5th cohort of startups in Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking – SGCIB and Investment Banking – SGCI’s Global Markets Incubator (GMI) programme. 🎉

For those who don’t know, Net Purpose is THE platform for sustainable investors. Net Purpose streams facts on the social and environmental performance of companies and investment portfolios to power close to $50 billion in sustainable funds.

Thank you to Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking – SGCIB for recognising the exceptional work of the Net Purpose team, and congratulations to the everyone at Net Purpose on this fantastic achievement!

Find out more HERE.

Intigriti becoming a founding member and the sole EU representative of the Hacking Policy Council

24th April 2023 2:43 pm Comments Off

Our portfolio company Intigriti, a bug bounty platform connecting ethical hackers and companies to identify security vulnerabilities, has become a founding member and the sole EU representative of the Hacking Policy Council.

Intigriti joins major players like Google, Intel Corporation, and Luta Security, on the Council which is committed to shaping a supportive legal, policy, and business landscape for security researchers.

Shippeo announcing their new customer Amazon and partner Setlog!

19th April 2023 11:04 am Comments Off

Some very exciting news from our portfolio company Shippeo this week!

The company just announced a partnership with Setlog | Rethink digital supply chains alongside a new a customer win with Amazon! Oh, and they also just opened their new office in Chicago!

These are major milestones for Shippeo as they continue to grow and strengthen their North American footprint to deliver superior real-time supply chain visibility across key markets.

A huge congratulations to the entire Shippeo team, we’re excited to see your continued growth!

UK investors turning down start-ups over poor sustainability credentials, says Amazon

Innovation Zero: Innovation & leadership in the low carbon transformation

Author Archives: Aleksandra