Developing the venture capital investment space to have an impact on climate tech

In an exclusive interview during Enlit on the Road Berlin, Dorte Hirschberg - entrepreneur, angel investor and general partner at Climentum Capital - provides her take on the Venture Capital (VC) climate tech space and her advice for start-up teams wanting to approach VCs for funding.

For Hirschberg, climate tech is ripe with investment opportunities for those looking to enter and with the right “secret sauce” there is a real space for lucrative returns.

Also of interest:
From unicorn to Gigacorn: the climate finance startup with a ‘secret sauce’
The financial opportunities of decommissioning and repurposing generation assets

However, the VC space needs to develop into being smarter by combining different means of funding, such as with debt financing, which has a large role in hardware. And for this, a mindset shift is much needed.

“We need smart software founders to tap into these segments who bring an ‘MVP’ mindset: Let's first get something done, get it out to the market [and] improve it afterwards.

“We need a mindset shift in hardware companies. And we only invest in teams when we see that. If we only see the engineers, then we ask how [they will make their products] scale and grow [as] we need this extra quick propulsion to make it a VC case.”

More from Enlit on the Road Berlin:
The challenges of balancing the energy trilemma
We need honesty over the end cost of net zero say Siemens Energy bosses
In the spotlight: Start-up landscape in Berlin and beyond

Make sure to watch the full interview with Hirschberg, recorded at the SET Tech Festival, who shares her take on what’s needed to unlock VC investments for climate-minded startups, Climentum Capital’s deals within the cleantech industry and how Berlin is a “hub of entrepreneurship and where things happen."