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unexampled mood tech VC firm have emerged in late year , but existing ones are also raising big funds . establish in 2007 , Dutch firmSET Venturesis one of the latter . Its fourth store , which just closed at € 200 million , is twice the sizing of its previous one , and will be deployed into 20 to 25 European inauguration making renewable energy more mainstream .
SET ’s name , pronounced “ set , ” stands for Sustainable Energy Technologies . Its long caterpillar tread disk of investing in European climate - focused inauguration andArticle 9 position , which requires a committedness to sustainability as a goal , helped it pull in more capital than ever from a mix of corporate and institutional L-P . But managing cooperator Anton Arts is aware that a larger fund can repulse early - point firms toward write larger curb at later stages , driving them aside from their arena of expertise .
SET plans to avoid this pitfall “ by doing more batch , not doing dissimilar deal , ” he told TechCrunch .
This means maneuver percipient of making late - leg investments , except as follow - ons . “ Our sweet spot is Series A , where we ’ll write initial tick between € 2 and € 5 million , ” Arts sound out . One recent example isGerman digital high temperature management startup Vilisto , which raised a € 5 million Series A round from SET and others .
Check size wo n’t change , but SET ’s thesis did evolve over the years to cut toward the digital side of things . “ For this 4th fund , ” Arts said , “ we have formulate our mission to invest in the digital technologies that are ask for the carbon - free get-up-and-go system . ”
This puddle SET different from World Fund , for instance : Danijel Višević , a managing partner at this climate - focused house that latterly closed a€300 million first monetary fund , told TechCrunch that Europe was not centralize enough on hardware for climate . In contrast , Arts believes that “ hardware is , on its own , not going to achieve pressing climate goals . ”
SET is still unforced to invest in companies with a computer hardware element as long as the science work out . showcase in point : Its portfolio company Instagrid , which develops enterprise - level portable charger , went on toraise a $ 95 million Series Cearlier this year .
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But it believes there are a flock of interesting and potentially eminent - upside challenges to be solved in software program , too , particularly when the destination is to bring initiation to a larger interview — that can only be accomplished through mechanization , which relies heavily on package . “ Early adopters are tinkerer , but pile markets need mechanization ; that ’s where AI and other thing play a persona , ” Arts articulate .
spouse René Savelsberg and Wouter Jonk were arguably other adopters when they found SET Ventures in Amsterdam in 2007 . fine art joined them seven twelvemonth ago , and sees similarities between “ everything that ’s going on around the vigour passage ” and emerging technologies he witness go mainstream in earlier phase of his calling in VC and package since the nineties . Whether it ’s 5 G , adtech or internet infrastructure , he sees all sort of parallels deserving drawing .
According to Arts , this is also where founder with expertness from other sectors can help oneself utilise their learning to clime startup . This is happening more and more , and he is here for it . “ What ’s extremely important for us is that they lend their playbooks , they take their networks , they take their conviction , and I call back it really all adds to this vitality and momentum in the sphere . ”
With more founders work on fair vigour , SET Ventures also date the need to widen its net . For a long prison term , it had a individual business office in Amsterdam ; but a match long time ago , it append another one in Germany . This matches the fact that most of its investing so far have been in the Netherlands , U.K. and DACH region . “ We do believe that with this big fund , we ’ll be able-bodied to increase our geographical reportage , ” Arts said .
