In the wake of PropTech1 Ventures (PT1) successfully completing the first closing of its second fund at €44 mln this January, the independent venture capital platform has made its first three investments in the startups Voltfang, Ontik and Climate X.
PT1 managing partner Anja Rath said: 'In the first fund vintage we compiled a portfolio of 17 startups, thereof – according to our own assessment – four unicorn candidates and one total write-off so far.
'The second vintage is now following the same proven concept but is even starting from a higher level: Our deal flow and datapoints, our LP investor base as well as our team size and experience has increased manyfold.'
Voltfang is a multiple-award winning technology startup that repurposes used electric vehicle batteries to create energy storage systems for commercial real estate applications using Voltfang’s proprietary technology.
By requalifying these used batteries and therefore turning them into a sustainable energy system, Voltfang is not only reducing waste and improving the environmental footprint of their customers like ALDI Nord, but at the same time also decreasing their costs.
As the world increasingly shifts towards renewable energy sources, decentralised energy storage systems are crucial to manage the intermittency of renewable sources and stabilise grids, PT1 said. Europe's energy storage market is set to multiply to €30 bn by 2027.
Ontik provides an operating system for the CFOs of B2B merchants to better deliver trade credit programmes to their customers from the construction and building material industry where trade credit accounts for 75% of revenue.
So far, the experience of trade credit is often slow and antiquated primarily due to the inefficient, manual processes. Ontik provides software to streamline trade credit programmes.
Climate X is a fast-growth global climate risk analytics provider, which helps companies become more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
The innovative startup has created a digital twin of the Earth that simulates extreme weather events and how they can damage properties, infrastructure and assets.
PT managing partner Nikolas Samios added: 'The current macroeconomic situation creates excellent investment opportunities. Real estate is facing an unprecedented, multidimensional change – the age of ‘we always did it this way’ is finally over, and it was always wise to invest when valuations are low compared to previous peaks.'
