100 million euros for tech start-ups

A new fund is aimed at start-ups from Europe and the USA that want to develop technologies to combat the climate crisis or ensure social justice.

Pirate Impact becomes Aenu and raises 100 million euros for the first closing of its fund. The Evergreen Fund aims to raise over 500 million euros in capital by 2026 to invest in impact tech start-ups. The capital will be invested in the areas of climate tech and social impact.

"We invest in technologies that help solve the climate crisis or lead to greater social justice," says Ferry Heilemann, Aenu co-founder. He set up the fund together with Fabian Heilemann. The founders would use scientifically based sustainability criteria to decide on investments. So far, the investors have come from the management team. An investment in the fund was only possible by personal invitation. Investors include the Hamburg-based family office E.R. Capital and the Unicorn CEOs Lawrence Leuschner (Tier), Michael Wax (Forto) and Niklas Zenstrom (Skype/Atomico) as well as a number of German family offices.

To date, the fund has invested in Heirloom (carbon capture), Labster (virtual reality for e-learning), Monta (charging technology for electric vehicles), Next Gen Foods (alternative proteins) and XFuel (biofuels).