Claudio Colombo’s Post

In the realm of renewable energy startups, a recent UK venture encountered a common challenge despite its innovative technology. Equipped with advanced solar-plus-battery solutions and fresh funding, the startup struggled to engage its audience effectively, lacking a crucial element: storytelling. While the company excelled in technical aspects such as battery specifications and reducing carbon footprints, it failed to grasp the importance of narrative. This oversight left investors, local councils, and the public unimpressed, leading to a missed opportunity. As previously emphasized, innovation alone is not enough; showcasing real-life impacts is essential. The startup's downfall stemmed from assuming familiarity with technical terms and failing to demonstrate tangible benefits to different stakeholders. If ThriveFast had intervened, the advice would have been straightforward: - Develop Engaging Narratives: Share relatable stories like Sarah's business resilience with uninterrupted power supply. - Use Visuals Strategically: Depict before-and-after scenarios visually to highlight the shift from power disruptions to operational stability. - Tailor Messages: Customize communication for varied audiences, including investors, the public, and regulators, focusing on diverse benefits like ROI, daily convenience, and environmental sustainability. In the ever-evolving energy landscape of the UK and US, success hinges not only on technological advancements but also on the ability to craft compelling narratives that resonate with a wide range of stakeholders. #marketing #thrivefa.st #thrivefast #startups

📣 From Hamburg to Munich, Germany’s founders are proving innovation doesn’t slow down. Big raises, global ambitions, and dozens of open roles make these ones to watch. 🇩🇪 encentive GmbH (Hamburg) #EnergyTechI Co-founders Nicolàs Juhl (Boldt), Daniel Ehnes, Torge Lahrsen, and Sascha G. are tackling industrial energy inefficiencies with encentive’s AI-driven platform. They secured a €6.3M seed round led by General Catalyst with backing from Summiteer, SIVentures (prev. Smart Infrastructure Ventures), Vireo Ventures, and others. ❗ Hiring: 6 openings - https://bit.ly/41ZqmIu 🇩🇪 feld.energy (Pöcking) #Sustainability Founded by Adrian Renner and Lukas Zels, feld.energy develops agricultural photovoltaics to let farms generate solar power and crops side by side. The company closed a €10M+ seed round led by HV Capital with support from Future Energy Ventures, AENU, and Angel Invest. ❗ Hiring: 22 openings - https://bit.ly/4gsU0LW 🇩🇪 BIOWEG (Quakenbrück) #Sustainability BIOWEG, led by Prateek M. and Srinivas Karuturi, is scaling biodegradable ingredients to replace microplastics. The team raised a €16M Series A led by Axeleo Capital (AXC), joined by the EIC Fund, NBank Capital, BONVENTURE, and seed investors, bringing total funding to €22M. ❗ Hiring: 9 openings - https://bit.ly/3I5llr6 🇩🇪 suena energy (Hamburg) #EnergyStorage With its AI-driven Energy Trading Autopilot, suena energy enables fully automated trading across power markets. Founders Dr. Lennard Wilkening, Miguel Wesselmann, and Tom Witter raised an €8M Series A led by Eneco Ventures with participation from 4impact capital, InnoEnergy, J.O.S.S., Santander, and Energie360. ❗ Hiring: 2 openings - https://bit.ly/46Mhics 🇩🇪 Kertos (Munich) #Compliance Kertos, founded by Dr. Kilian Schmidt, Johannes Hussak, and Alexander Prams, is redefining compliance with automation and expert support. The company closed a €14M Series A led by Portage, with continued backing from Pi Labs, Redstone, 10x Founders, and seed + speed Ventures. ❗ Hiring: 12 openings - https://bit.ly/47S1DcF 🇩🇪 Terra One (Berlin) #Infrastructure Berlin-based Terra One develops grid-scale battery storage systems. Founders Tony Schumacher, Thomas Antonioli, and Malte Herberg secured up to €150M in mezzanine financing from Aviva Investors, enabling investment of up to €750M in new projects with around 3 GWh of storage capacity. ❗ Hiring: 6 openings - https://bit.ly/4mo94f6 ✨ Want to know who is hiring and raising capital in Germany? Let’s connect, and follow me for more updates like these! #StartupFunding #HiringNow #FundingAndHiring #Innovation

My latest in Forbes: Why so many promising cleantech companies stumble between seed funding and scale—and what we can do about it. The "valley of death" isn't just about capital gaps. It's about proving commercial viability when the technology works but the business model hasn't caught up yet. https://lnkd.in/eDgMjc6H #cleantech #venturecapital #sustainability

🌍 How can Corporate Venture Capital accelerate the path to net-zero? 🌱🤝🌍 Nicolas Sauvage will join the conversation at VERGE 2025 in San Jose during the panel: “Strategic Capital: How CVCs Invest and Partner to Reach Climate Goals” with Charles Bondu (Sightline Climate (CTVC)), Nicole LeBlanc (Woven Capital), and Laurel M. V. Buckner (BHP Ventures). CVCs have a critical role to play not only by funding bold climate technologies, but by de-risking them, accelerating commercialization, and bridging innovation into real-world deployment. At TDK Ventures, we serve as an innovation engine for TDK, investing in startups that expand our reach beyond the core while aligning with our mission to contribute to culture and industry through creativity. From Type One Energy and Rodatherm Energy Corporation reshaping renewable baseload energy, to Spiritus pushing the frontier of permanent carbon removal, our portfolio reflects the deeptech foundations of the energy transition. Through companies like Ascend Elements, we’re enabling closed-loop EV battery supply chains. And with innovations like AM Batteries —whose dry-coating process reduces manufacturing energy use by over 50%—we help scale solutions with real-world industrial relevance. Looking ahead to 2026, we’re tracking climate tech trends with outsized potential: 🔹 AI-powered energy efficiency across digital infrastructure 🔹 Critical minerals and regionalized supply chains 🔹 Baseload geothermal as a 24/7 clean energy backbone CVCs can turn corporate vision into climate action. Not just by writing checks, but by showing up with strategic conviction, long-term partnership, and what we call "TDK Goodness." We look forward to sharing, listening, and learning at VERGE 2025. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eAzyKVi9

Wankel Energy's $1M Pre-Seed Win — Why Clean Energy Startups Have Momentum When a startup converts industrial waste heat into usable energy, that’s not just sustainability: it’s economic value. That kind of impact is getting noticed. For impact-driven founders: • Proof of concept + early pilots are critical for credibility. • Regulatory alignment & industry partnerships (textile, pharma, etc.) can unlock scale. • Investors want both environmental & commercial returns. U2CA supports you in navigating grants, designing pilot projects, and positioning your startup for impact + investment. Backed by our strategic mandate and founders Mamta Gupta & RAJPAL MALIK, we help make your sustainability innovation not just noble—but fundable. #CleanTech #Sustainability #StartupGrowth #U2CA

🚀 New deal alert 7️⃣ OpusFlow is the all-in-one ERP platform for sustainable installation companies and is the seventh investment of Rise PropTech Fund. With this new investment, Rise PropTech Fund is expanding in a new country: the Netherlands 🇳🇱. The fundraising was led by Move Energy , the existing investor Peak and joined by Rise PropTech Fund. The OpusFlow solution integrates all key processes for companies installing solar panels, heat pumps, charging stations, solar water heaters, and related installations: from quotes & installation team planning to inventory management, sales operations, and billing 💪 With this capital injection, OpusFlow will enhance its platform with #AI, launch new modules and expand its activities in its existing markets: the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, while focusing on continuing its international expansion 🌎. OpusFlow in a nutshell: 👬 Founded in 2022 by Diego Smits & Joey Teunissen 🇳🇱 HQ in Deventer 👩 Employs ~40 people 💚 USP: reduction in administrative time for projects by up to 80% We wish a warm welcome to the whole OpusFlow team ! 👉 Rise PropTech Fund: Gaëtan Baudelet & Jerome Constant #startup, #fundraising, #construction, #sustainability, #startups, #solar, #heatpump, Holland ConTech & PropTech, #greenenergy, #contech, #proptech, #climatetech, #vc

🚀 Thrilled to announce that Rise PropTech Fund has invested in the €3.8 million pre-Series A round of OpusFlow, the all-in-one automation platform for sustainable installation companies. We’re proud to back Diego Smits, Joey Teunissen and Olivier Klessens in their mission to make installers the backbone of Europe’s energy transition. Together with our co-investors Move Energy and Peak, we believe OpusFlow is on track to become the operating system for sustainable installers in Europe. 👏 Congrats to the whole OpusFlow team on this major milestone!

Madrid-based ClimateTech startup Clevergy has raised €3.2 million to accelerate its international expansion after tripling its growth last year 🇪🇸 🔋 The round was co-led by Racine² (managed by Serena and makesense) and Axon Partners Group, with participation from Satgana, Wayra (Telefónica’s CVC), and Angels Capital, Juan Roig’s investment firm. “Energy retailers have recognised that the industry is evolving and that technology is crucial to staying competitive, enabling households to take on a new role in the energy market,” said Beltrán Aznar, CEO and Co-founder of Clevergy. https://lnkd.in/dJtRzFHj

🍂 A new month begins, but the #SET100 community keeps the momentum strong, read about the latest news 👇 💰 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 ▪️ SunCulture secures $5 million funding from WaterEquity ▪️ SwitchDin raises $10 million in Series A investment round led by Ellerston Capital ▪️ HeatVentors raises PLN 17 million in Series A round for global expansion of intelligent thermal batteries ▪️ X1 Wind receives a total investment of €405,000 from CDTI Innovación and CLUB RG 14 through Innvierte ▪️ Fortescue acquires Spanish wind tech firm NABRAWIND, reaching 100% ownership 📈 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 & 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 ▪️ Over Easy - Vertical Solar for Rooftops installs world's largest rooftop vertical solar array in Tromsø, Norway ▪️ Rabot Energy becomes an Official Partner of Red Bull München and future energy supplier of SAP Garden with 100% Ökostrom 🏆𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ▪️ Einride achieves world-first cabless electric autonomous border crossing and customs passing ▪️ Nyobolt shortlisted for the Scale-Up Award at the UK tech awards 2025 ▪️ Buyofuel featured in YourStory Media’s Tamil Nadu Startup Spotlight at the Global Startup Summit 2025 #Startup #News #Funding #Investment #Climatetech

In the dynamic realm of venture capital, where innovation meets industrial grit, Yaletown Partners emerges as a steadfast navigator of Canada’s tech landscape. Founded amid the dot-com recovery in 2002, this Vancouver-headquartered firm has quietly amassed over $600 million in active funds by mid-2025, channeling capital into emerging-growth companies that digitize heavy-asset sectors like energy, logistics, and agriculture. On July 30, 2025, Yaletown announced the first close of its ambitious Innovation Growth Fund III (IGF III) at $100 million, targeting a $250 million total—a milestone that underscores its resilience in a funding winter marked by five-year lows in Canadian VC deals. While not a pure-play space investor, Yaletown’s “Intelligent Industry” thesis intersects the space economy through bets on satellite-enabled analytics, such as its stake in GHGSAT, which deploys orbital sensors to monitor methane emissions, blending environmental monitoring with geospatial data flows...https://lnkd.in/gVZaSaKp