UnternehmerTUM

Profit and purpose can be a virtuous cycle. Solving humanity's biggest problems can provide superior financial returns. Tech-enabled companies can have significant impact at scale BUT Tech companies and impact investors largely live in different worlds. Avesta can bridge these worlds to harness the tech world toward positive impact. Areas of Focus We invest in tech-enabled companies whose positive impact is aligned with their business. We prioritize (but are not limited to) diverse entrepreneurs. Stage: pre-seed or seed; Typically raising $750K to $4M in the round. ClimateSustainable Agriculture Energy Efficiency Clean Energy Carbon Sinks Clean Manufacturing Circular Economy Green Buildings OpportunityEducation Financial Inclusion Future of Work Health Access & Affordability Housing Entrepreneurship Development What we offerTypical investments of $150K to $500K per company Best-practice based coaching to help founding teams optimize their impact, and align it with their business Unique mix of experiences that help companies bridge both the VC and impact worlds Connections to our broad network of investors and partners interested in impact-oriented tech startups

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.

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 invest in high growth, early-stage companies that leverage technologies and digitization to create societal benefit, efficiency, and scale aligned with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We are a community of founders, operators, and investors with deep domain expertise, diverse networks, and a desire to help innovative companies grow. We look for massive markets that are well-timed and companies with high growth, reasonable valuations, and impact. We will focus on investments from ACTAI Global and Extreme Tech Challenge but not be limited to those communities. Digitization and data science are remaking many industries because they lower friction and usage cost and enable replicability and scalability. Digitization allows for the virtualization of physical assets and more efficient asset utilization. Some of these concepts are eloquently articulated by Bill Tai in a Medium post on “Currency in the 4th Industrial Revolution” from 2018. We also believe technology innovation is borderless, which means great companies can come from anywhere! One of the first companies coming out of the Extreme Tech Challenge was Canva in 2015, which was seeded from the ACTAI Global community. The need for unified and coordinated initiatives to support (primarily digital) innovation as a catalyst for growth within an overarching framework of sustainability has accelerated as economies shift from being based on oil to electrons. We are excited to partner with founders who are making a huge impact and provide them with the social and financial capital they need!

Banpu Innovation & Ventures (BIV), a ventures division at Banpu, is focused on technology development via R&D, accelerator, incubator and corporate venture capital initiatives.

To provide sustainable solutions to climate change, we aim to boost the growth of clean energy businesses and to integrate energy innovations into everyone’s daily lives to create positive environmental impacts that accelerate Thailand’s transition towards a net-zero society. WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR TOWARDS A NET ZERO FUTURE? We are seeking collaborators who share our goals towards a net-zero society. Startups & Entrepreneurs: Startups and entrepreneurs with ready-to-implement innovations for climate change who seek funding. Venture Capital Fund Managers: Leading venture capital fund managers with outstanding track records who share the same energy-oriented investment goals and values to invest in sustainable solutions to solve environmental problems. Institutional Investors: Institutional Investors who share the same investment aspiration for a sustainable future and are willing to be a part of the same investment journey.​