Stockholm, Sweden 22 May 2019

To acknowledge a champion of sustainable innovation, Cleantech Group has named SET Ventures European Investor of the Year 2019.  Cleantech Group looked at the twelve months from March 2018 to March 2019 to find a European investor that demonstrated positive outcomes and progress across the major activity set – fundraising, realizing positive returns for LPs via exits, and portfolio management (both in progressing the current portfolio and adding quality new companies).

Why? Set Ventures

The award-winner’s standout highlights were considered to be:

• The close of Fund III, a fund dedicated to European early growth-stage companies shaping the future energy system.
• The successful exits of sonnen, a leader in smart energy storage systems for households, and LimeJump, the first energy company to trade an aggregated unit and batteries in the UK Balancing Mechanism market.
• The additions of DEPsys, a company enabling traditional low-voltage electricity networks to cope with decentralized production from renewable energy sources and Greenflux, a pioneer in smart-charging networks for electric vehicles.

Comments from CEOs

“We are delighted to make this award to SET Ventures, one of the pioneering funds that has admirably weathered the toughest of times through the early 2010s to continue investing in solutions for a more sustainable energy future”, said Richard Youngman, CEO Cleantech Group. “Great things can happen to those with patience in a multi-decade game. SET Ventures has achieved important milestones during the last twelve months. We should all be happy for them, and for the health of this important and maturing innovation ecosystem. The best is yet to come.”

“We are deeply honored to have received the European Investor of the Year Award 2019,” René Savelsberg, Co-founder and Managing Partner of SET Ventures, says. “Our team had an exciting year in which we announced the first close for SET Fund III, celebrated breakout success stories, and added exceptional smart energy entrepreneurs who have what it takes to transform large, global markets”, Savelsberg adds: “We will continue to break new ground in forward-looking venture capital fund management by including impact results as part of our renumeration, while contributing to an acceleration of the transition of the energy system worldwide.”

The award forms part of the series Cleantech Group has been running since 2002 to celebrate the achievements of companies, investors and individuals.

About Cleantech Group

Cleantech® Group provides research, consulting and events to catalyze opportunities for sustainable growth powered by innovation. At every stage from initial strategy to final deals, we bring corporate change makers, investors, governments and stakeholders from across the ecosystem the access and customized support they need to thrive in a more digitized, de-carbonized and resource-efficient future.

The company was established in 2002 and is headquartered in San Francisco with a growing international presence in London. Our parent company, Enovation Partners, is based in Chicago.