Berlin-based VC firm Revent, backer of AI-powered hospital platform Avelios Medical and carbon credits startup Sylvera, has closed its second fund of €100m.
The funds will be used to invest in startups at pre-seed and seed working in climate, health and ‘empowerment’ — a broad term covering finance, education, govtech, workforce upskilling, data governance and privacy rights.
Founding partner Lauren Lentz says the firm approached raising a new fund with “trepidation” given many VCs have struggled to raise funds in the last few years and US president Donald Trump’s withdrawal of support for climate initiatives has created uncertainty in the market.
But she believes the breadth of topics Revent covers chimed well with LPs, allowing it to close the fund within six months.
“In the early days, there were moments when LPs wondered why we had a broader scope. But now, given the overall headwinds in the market, I think there are a lot of LPs that are happy to have the possibility to invest in a product that still fulfils a specific climate mandate, but also has the possibility to invest in topics such as healthcare and empowerment,” says Lentz.
“Topics related to education and upskilling are really having a moment with AI.”
Revent says it will write cheques of between €500k and €3m into 34 startups, saving 50% of the fund for follow-on investments.
The fund is backed exclusively by European LPs. They include the European Investment Fund, Benjamin Otto, part of the family behind the German ecommerce giant Otto Group and the anchor investor in Revent’s first fund, baking goods multinational Dr Oetker and motorhome maker Hymer.
Tech founders such as the entrepreneurs behind Signavio, Amboss, Urban Sports Club and Oviva are also LPs in the fund.
Bullish on climate
Lentz says Revent is still “bullish on climate”, even though she’s observed that deal flow in this area has reduced.
“The way Trump, with stunning speed, managed to completely break a lot of the climate policy regulation and overall momentum has caused a tremendous amount of uncertainty globally for companies and for investors wanting to double down in the sector,” she says.
That’s had a knock-on effect on the number of climate ventures currently being founded; some entrepreneurs may now choose to start a company in an area facing less economic and political headwinds.
For example, Lentz says that “a huge amount” of capital is shifting to companies covering European reindustrialisation, sovereignty and defence — and a lot of founders “who understand what investors are interested in” are choosing to start up in these areas.
Even though climate deal volume has reduced for now, the quality of companies has increased, adds Lentz.
“The folks who are still starting climate tech companies really know what they’re up against and have a lot of conviction. We’ll still see many interesting opportunities in climate with high quality founders and, frankly, less inflated prices,” she says.
One of the opportunities Revent is eyeing is what Lentz calls the “planning and logistics of industrial decarbonisation” — for example, if you decarbonise a plant, what do you do with all the carbon, how do you account for it and where do you transport it?
“I think there will be a whole new industry that emerges from this,” says Lentz.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/revent-closes-100m/
