#9 – Investing in Start-ups and Setting New Impulses

Hi and welcome to my blog! I'm looking forward to sharing my latest experiences and insights into sustainable projects at Evonik. Are you ready? Then let's dive into the topics of << Evonik Venture Capital (EVC) >>!

This is the motto of Evonik Venture Capital - investments in start-ups that are active in attractive markets with above-average growth rates. And what else is taken into account when making investments? Innovation growth areas such as healthcare or, in particular, sustainability play an important role. The start-up must have a connection to Evonik's growth areas. The investments are based on both financial and strategic goals.

EVC has invested in over 50 start-ups and funds since 2012 and currently employs 14 investment professionals on three continents. The investment managers see over 1,000 start-ups every year and, due to their many years of experience in dealing with start-ups, have developed an intuitive feel for identifying successful products and business models.

I was able to see the presentations and the impact of the start-ups for myself at an event, the Tech Tour.

Various start-ups presented themselves there and I was able to accompany the venture capital team. But more on that later.

It should also be mentioned that the Sustainability Tech Fund has been established in 2022. This involves investments in new, young companies with the primary goal of reducing CO2 emissions. The Sustainability Tech Fund is clustered into six research fields. These include, for example, the mobility of the future and green hydrogen.

Now let's talk about the event that I had the pleasure of attending. The Evonik Venture Capital team took part in one of the Tech Tour year-end events.

The Tech Tour is a community for entrepreneurship and investment in the technology sector in Europe.

A wide variety of technology companies come together here to exchange ideas, learn from each other, find investors and grow themselves, as well as to promote the exchange of ideas and young, dynamic companies.

Several tech events take place throughout Europe throughout the year. Promising new tech entrepreneurs (start-ups) are selected and invited by investment experts. This gives the young companies the opportunity to present their field of business, make contacts and, in the best case, find investors.

At the final event for the Sustainability section of the Tech Tour, start-ups were selected from the previous events. A total of around 100 start-ups were present and once again had the chance to convince the jury in a five minute presentation.

As a participant, I was able to listen to a wide variety of pitches and see for myself how the start-ups want to expand their network and make their inventions big.

I even got to meet a start-up that Evonik has already invested in and was able to see for myself how it relates to our business areas. At the end of the day, I got to know a total of around 15 start-ups and was able to gather lots of exciting new impressions and information. The information and contacts are now being processed to see what opportunities arise.

I was very impressed by the ideas and also by some of the presentations. I was able to see which start-ups already have a bit more experience and which are still at the very beginning of the tech community. All in all, I am convinced that such an event is a complete success for both sides and makes a great contribution to the business.