Congruent Ventures

The next-generation of European and Israeli climate-tech founders are poised to solve humanity’s most pressing challenge, but are heavily underfunded and underrepresented at Seed stage. Benefitting from unparalleled levels of engagement with the climate tech community, our platform-based model backs the pioneers building the technology that will become the infrastructure of tomorrow. Given that decades of collective actions got us into the climate mess, we leverage Energy Tech Summit, Energy Tech Challengers and Climate50 to make a collaborative effort to mobilise resources and get humanity back on track to decarbonize the economy.

Dirtyindustries is a company that invests in Cimate-tech ventures that have the potential to create an exponential impact on the planet. We specialize in pre-seed investments and are located in Stockholm, Sweden.

Capital for an economy that respects planetary limits. Some generations have built cathedrals. Some have navigated across oceans and expanded the frontiers of the known world. Others have had to rebuild war-torn continents. Our generation’s greatest challenge is equally immense: to create an economic system that respects the planet’s limits, and overcome the ecological crisis. If we are to rise to the challenge, we're going to have to innovate. In a radical way. This means taking risks - carefully considered, never unnecessary, ones. Having the courage to take the long view once again. Rewriting the rules of economic activity from the ground up, by standing alongside those who recognize that the greatest ambition of all lies in finding alternative means to create wealth. Our mission is to support the entrepreneurs who are repairing the world - from the very beginning of their journey, and with no time limit on our commitment. How? By bringing together a broad and diverse community of first-rate investors, and steering the flow of capital to where it is most likely to make a difference. One sector at a time, one start-up at a time, thereby increasing the number of tipping points. Allowing what will save us to thrive in the face of overwhelming adversity. So that we can finally initiate the systemwide transformational change which all of us are calling for, without always knowing where to start.

We are an early-stage venture capital firm investing in companies that jumpstart new industries in the emerging markets of Europe. Investment thesis Infrastructure for innovation We invest in startups that build the infrastructure for innovation and jumpstart new industries by breaking vicious cycles. The root of all evil Vicious cycles are endemic in emerging ecosystems - they are the byproduct of systemic deficiencies and make it difficult or even impossible for the emerging ecosystem to grow and develop. Example of such a vicious cycle at work in Central and Eastern Europe: the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is slowed down by the lack of the charging infrastructure; conversely, the charging infrastructure is not being built because of the lack of the EVs to use it. Because of their systemic origin, breaking such vicious cycles is a capital-intensive and a long-term endeavor - the kind of task a VC fund is both qualified and responsible to assume. On a high note - the root of all evil is where the promise of venture returns lies. A (technological) leap of faith Emerging ecosystems are strong enough to leapfrog existing technologies and adopt the solutions of the future. It happened in the past (see LTE adoption in Africa/India leapfrogging classical landlines) giving birth to a breed of companies that created their own markets. These startups are the backbone of the future ecosystem populated by dependent/client third parties. Opportunities A brave new world B2C - The rising billions In 2000, 6% of the world population was connected to the internet. In 2010, online adoption increased to 23% or 2 billion people connected. In 2020, more than 66% of all people will have online access. That’s an additional 3 billion people that will get access to the internet, raising the total number of connected population to 5.5 billion. B2B - The unicorn of one It is now possible to start a company valued at $1BN from your garage, with no assets and basically no employees. And this company may serve the giants of the corporate world. Fortune 500 companies already acknowledged that innovations come from small companies agile enough to disrupt industries. Today, the business development and strategy VPs turned into innovation scouters actively seeking emerging technologies and valuable teams to acquire or hire. Let’s talk money How we do it Our philosophy Our philosophy is quite straightforward: we invest at the earliest stages in companies whose founders have skin in the game, are coachable and address big markets. If the opportunity is real, we prefer to be the first institutional investor in such startups. Geography Our firm recruits regionally (in CEE) and invests locally (in Romania) to take advantage of country’s great technical talent, low labor costs, low operating costs and high-speed Internet access. Equity Because of our active engagement with our companies, we typically will take a correspondingly substantial equity ownership position (5% to 15%) in our investments and will join as a member of the company’s board of directors (Series A). Accelerator Stage At the Accelerator stage - we invest anywhere between €50,000 and €200,000 in exchange for 5% to 15% common stock. Series A At the Seed stage - our sweet spot is €500,000 but, if the opportunity is real, we can invest up to €4,500,000 in one company. Timing We are fast to say NO – won’t waste your time. Saying YES takes a bit longer: 4 to 6 weeks on average, but that depends on you too.

With over two decades of Australian investment in building capability in research and universities, Australia now enjoys some of the most extraordinary talent and globally leading minds. This talent is creating knowledge and has the capacity of solving some of the big problems of our time but if we can’t take this know-how and intellect into the world, then this brilliance is lost and the opportunity we have will remain just that – an opportunity. As business builders and investors, Significant has been taking up this challenge for nearly two decades. Working in collaboration with universities, researchers and state governments, we, as a collective group have a track record in translating this knowledge bank into technology, into products, into services and ultimately into businesses that: Have become global companies Re-shaped markets Solved sustainability problems Created jobs and New career pathways for Australians Significant has the capacity to create high value niche modern manufacturing industries and exports for Australia and are extremely proud of their achievements. Significant leads by example to show that Australia can commercialise its inventions, that sustainable globally competitive businesses can be created in Australia, and that early-stage investment can create immense value for investors, demonstrating that through action Significant is able to attract more capital to invest in this important space and is be able to shift the mindset (read the AFR article) that Australia is great at innovation but not at execution. Backing Australia Our vision is a country that backs its researchers for the intellectual capital advantage they provide. Our mission is to back this talent, entrepreneurs and innovators to take these ideas and concepts to the world and create its own self-funding eco-system that results in the formation of new industries. Through our 4-way all-encompassing unique eco-system, our university investor partners provide us with access to the ‘very earliest’ investment opportunities possible, opening the door to concepts, ideas and innovations well before other venture capital funds. Our investment approach We invest in applied technologies that address high-impact global niche markets and will bring about social, environmental or economic change. Every potential investment must have a pathway to being a sustainable business and contributing impact to the UN Sustainable Development Goals either through the technology or through their business model. We look for technologies that provide a market advantage that is hard to replicate. They will have emerged either from researchers who have had long well-funded R&D cycles or innovators who have deep domain specialisation in an industry and so know their market problem exceptionally well. We are sector agnostic driven by the thematics that arise from the core capabilities of our partner universities and the innovations we uncover. The accelerators Strong market-fit and early industry engagement are imperative. We seek to accelerate the path to market dramatically by sourcing early adopters to validate the market need and aim to achieve market traction within 12-24 months. Our ability to find these early adopters is a key part of Significant’s initial due diligence.