Climate Insiders Vaekstfonden - The seeding role of Government Funds in European Climate Tech (ft. Lars Nordal Jensen)
Lars Nordal Jensen is the Director of Fund of Funds investments at Vaekstfonden, the Danish Growth Fund.
Since 1992, The Danish Growth Fund has financed more than 5,400 Danish companies with a total commitment of more than €1.5 billion. The Danish Growth Fund invests equity and provides loans and guarantees for small as well as medium-sized enterprises in collaboration with private partners and Danish financial institutions
We discuss:
- The role of sovereign/government funds in the EU Venture Capital scene
- Analysis of sovereign funds terms and trends
- The LP takes on today's Climate Tech ecosystem
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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:
Climate Insiders is brought to you by Climentum Capital, a Seed+ and Series A cleantech European venture capital firm focused on funding and scaling climate-positive ventures that cut down on CO2 emissions.
If you are interested in how smart capitalism combined with mission-driven founders building innovative tech startups can overcome our climate crisis and build a better future, you’ve come to the right place.
Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co and https://www.climentum.com
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ABOUT THE GUEST:
Lars Nordal Jensen is the Director of early stage and Fund of Funds investments at Vaekstfonden, the Danish Growth Fund.
Since 1992, The Danish Growth Fund has financed more than 5,400 Danish companies with a total commitment of more than DKK 15 billion. The Danish Growth Fund invests equity and provides loans and guarantees for small as well as medium-sized enterprises in collaboration with private partners and Danish financial institutions
Lars has been with VF for more than 10 years now, occupying multiple roles.
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SHOW NOTES:
00:00 - Introduction
02:07- Start
03:30 – How does a government fund function?
04:26 – Is the EU VC Industry high on soft money?
06:18 – What is the situation like in the U.S. and Asia?
06:53 – How does the EU reduce the dependency on government funds?
09:00 – How could government funds compress the time it takes to deploy capital to funds?
11:53 – Is it desirable to stretch the time of funds to create a market barrier?
13:29 – Are national quotas a bad thing and should they be abolished?
16:30 – Is there a fear that sovereign funds might crowd up the market?
19:03 – Should sovereign funds cooperate more across Europe?
20:45 – How could government funds help increase diversity?
23:45 – Is there too much capital investment in green and sustainable innovation?
24:53 – Is it still a good moment to invest in Climate Tech?
25:50 – Does it make sense to invest only in Article 9 funds from now on?
27:11 – What can investors do to avoid “greenwashing”?
29:08 – Value that Article 9 brings
31:01 – Dual carry structure
32:40 – Rapid Fire Round
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ABOUT THE HOST:
Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.
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LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders
Lars Nordal Jensen https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-nordal-jensen-4101882
Vaekstfonden https://www.linkedin.com/company/vaekstfonden/