ETF
It takes excellence in every area to build a truly great business. We believe that Venture Capital should be about more than just finance. We also aim to provide more - a real depth of experience, skill and contacts that together help make the difference between a good attempt and a great company. We aim to support entrepreneurs throughout Europe to help make their ideas happen. In the process we try to help to create a more sustainable environment for future generations.
Until fairly recently it was only eccentrics and dreamers who believed Climate Change was occurring, and that mankind was causing it. Even as evidence mounted, they were shouted down, most frequently by those who feared the consequences - those who seemed to fear that such views were a challenge to the very basis of modern society. When we feel threatened it is hard to react positively. When we feel uncertain it is still hard to vote for change. But, when we believe there is no alternative, it is suddenly easy to take action. The mainstream now accepts that Climate Change is really happening. Consequently, there has been a recent dramatic acceleration of the belief that we must act. The question is, how?
Even as the debate on Climate Change was becoming mainstream, a new group of dreamers was emerging - those who could see how technology could provide at least some of the answers. The use of technology to help solve environmental problems is not new. What is new to us is the scale of the challenge and the degree to which now, suddenly, large markets are innovating or being forced to innovate. Rapid acceptance of innovation and of new technologies by large markets is rare. When it does happen, as now with Cleantech, it provides unusually fertile ground for entrepreneurs.
Europe now in many ways leads the world in the environmental area. However, European entrepreneurs have not found it easy to access the venture capital required to build new technology-based environmental companies Cleantech companies. We formed ETF to meet this need for the very best entrepreneurs.
“I have spoken before about the way the Chinese express the concept of crisis. They use two symbols, the first of which by itself means danger. The second, in isolation, means opportunity. Put them together, and you get crisis. [That] single word conveys the danger but doesn’t always communicate the presence of opportunity in every crisis. In this case, the opportunity presented by the climate crisis is not only the opportunity for new and better jobs, new technologies, new opportunities for profit, and a higher quality of life. It gives us an opportunity to experience something that few generations ever have the privilege of knowing: a common moral purpose compelling enough to lift us above our limitations and motivate us to set aside some of the bickering to which we as human beings are naturally vulnerable.”
Al Gore's speech delivered to New York University School of Law, September 18, 2006
Today environmental challenges present an opportunity for innovators to do what they do best - imagine create and deliver solutions that will create profitable busineses and at the same time benefit the environment and the people that live in it. ETF is dedicated to supporting the best entrepreneurs in developing technology and service-based businesses within the high-growth segments of:
- energy efficiency
- power conservation
- renewable energy generation
- water treatment and conservation
- agriculture and silviculture
- environmental services such as waste reduction and recycling
- mass transportation systems
- material sciences and their industrial applications
Cleantech - Technologies and services that bring substantial improvements in productivity and profitability, creating more economic value with the use of less energy, less material, and with less waste; and which in the process are environmentally beneficial.
Cleantech embraces a diverse range of processes, products and services that bring environmental benefits through substantial improvements in productivity and profitability. Cleantech creates more economic value with the use of less energy, less materials and with less waste.
The impact of Cleantech is ubiquitous: it now represents some 7-10% of total growth capital investment in Europe and the USA. In Europe this now equates to approximately $700m-$1billion p.a, and has doubled proportionately over the previous 3 years in relation to other growth sectors.
There is now national and international understanding at Government level that climate change is a real threat that requires urgent action. Public awareness is also leading to pressure on companies and local and national Governments to respond to the present threat. This pressure on companies has already led to major corporations adopting clean technologies. Companies like GE, with its "Ecomagination Programme" of clean technologies have aimed to lead the way. CEO Jeff Immelt said that 'green is green' - meaning that producing green technology and the meeting of demand for such products and services, equals green dollars for GE. All these factors, and more, have created an environment within both large and established industries that is suddenly very favourable to innovation creating fertile ground for new and high-growth businesses to flourish. ETF aims to support high-quality entrepreneurs and high-growth businesses working in the Cleantech field.
“…things that are good for the environment are also good for business.... GE is embarking on this initiative (Ecomagination)…not because it is trendy or moral, but because it will accelerate growth…GE will double its revenues from (Cleantech) from $10bn to $20bn in 5 years”.
Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO General Electric Corp, 9 May 2005
“Cleantech is THE emerging investment opportunity in today’s market.”
Paul Deninger, Vice chairman of Jeffries, Chairman of Jeffries Broadview, EVCA Venture Capital Forum, October 2006.