New sustainability VC launches

According to a media report, Fabian and Ferry Heilemann want to raise 500 million euros for their fund Aenu.

The family office Pirate Impact is now becoming a venture capitalist that focuses on impact, according to start-up scene reports. Pirate Impact has been managed by Fabian and Ferry Heilemann since 2016. The two are co-founders of the voucher network Dailydeal, which they sold to Google.

As a VC, Pirate Impact will now focus even more strongly on the topic of sustainability. "There are enough interesting deals in the area of sustainability that are also financially attractive," says Fabian Heilmann to Gründerszene.

To this end, they want to set up a fund called Aenu with a volume of 500 million euros. "So far, all the capital has come from family and friends, but in the fall we will also open the fund to institutional investors," Heilemann told Gründerszene.

The brothers apparently started putting together a team in Berlin a few months ago. Siobhan Brewster, a former partner of the European early-stage investor Amplifier and former employee of Macquarie in the USA, has joined the management team as a partner. As Principal & VP Impact Melina Sánchez will also contribute her expertise in the sustainability sector. Fabian Heilmann has given up his position as Partner at the well-known VC Earlybird.