London-based A/O, a venture capital firm primarily focused on built-world technologies, announced on Friday the first close of its €250M second fund.
The fund aims to invest in technologies that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build climate resilience, accelerate the energy transition, and digitalisation of the real estate and construction industries.
A/O’s Vision: Investing in positive transformation
Founded in 2019, A/O is committed to investing in technologies that enable the ‘positive transformation’ of the built world, a concept that drives the firm’s strategy throughout.
The scope of A/O’s investment landscape covers the entire lifecycle of the built world.
The firm directs its capital towards various areas, including supply chain optimisation, innovative materials, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC), building operations and management, as well as decarbonisation, climate resiliency, electrification, energy transition, and digitalisation.
The company’s investment portfolio encompasses an array of technologies, spanning software, hardware, deep tech, and artificial intelligence.
Through Fund I, A/O invested in 22 companies throughout the lifecycle of the built world.
Examples of climate-focused verticals in their portfolio include:
- SPAN (California-based housing electrification)
- Satellite Vu (UK-based Earth Observation firm)
- PassiveLogic (US-based next-gen BMS leveraging AI to operate buildings more efficiently.
- 011H (Spain-based sustainable mass timber prefab developer) taking an asset-light and software-first approach to timber construction
- Plentific (UK-based property management software platform and trades marketplace
First investments from Fund II
A/O has already announced its first two investments under Fund II.
The fund has invested €19.4M in Enter’s Series A round, a company A/O has supported since its Seed round.
A/O’s second investment is in a company in stealth mode. The company is developing a digital-first solution and software platform to address the skilled labour shortages hampering the retrofitting industry.
A/O currently counts 13 team members across investments, research, and data science with a unique diversity of background, experience, ethnicity, and gender.
With Fund II, the firm plans to hire more investors, as well as its first head of sustainability who will help execute the firm’s proprietary “impactful change” framework and help accelerate sustainability goals across its stakeholders.
Gregory Dewerpe, Founder and CIO of A/O, says, “We believe this is one of the largest industry transitions of our generation, that will see the emergence of some of the most significant category-defining technology companies globally.”
“Furthermore, the emergence of AI in the built world is showing very promising potential to further accelerate the transition to automation, efficiency, and transparency across the entire lifecycle of assets and power the next wave of adoption.”
“The more challenging market conditions of the last 18 months have been a great reminder for many that being a specialist firm with deep expertise, backing technology that matters, and aiming to solve mission-critical problems is a good place to be in,” says Dewerpe.
Read the orginal article: https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/a-o-announces-first-close-of-250m/
