Participated · Equity · Apr 2022

Climeworks builds and operates direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The company is focused on scaling its advanced DAC systems to reduce carbon removal costs and expand carbon removal offerings. Recent plant progress includes Orca, which validated the company’s approach, and Mammoth, which enables large-scale testing of new technologies. Technical improvements reported include doubled energy efficiency, increased throughput, and longer lifespan of filter materials. Climeworks says it has over 6 million tons of secured supply in its global portfolio and is positioning its hybrid model to build long-term demand while generating cash flow today. The company has surpassed $1 billion in total funding and is using new capital to push innovation and lower costs for profitable DAC plants. Climeworks develops and operates direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Since its foundation in 2009 it has pioneered the field and launched the world’s largest direct air capture and storage plant in September 2021. Today the company signed an equity round of CHF 600 million (USD 650 million) that will fund the next phase of growth. The financing is intended to scale direct air capture up to multi‑million‑ton capacity and to implement large‑scale facilities as carbon removal becomes a trillion‑dollar market. The new investor base includes several renowned institutional technology and infrastructure investors globally and is co‑led by Partners Group (acting on behalf of its clients) and GIC, with participation from Baillie Gifford, Carbon Removal Partners, Global Founders Capital, John Doerr, M&G, Swiss Re, and other new and existing shareholders including anchor investor BigPoint Holding AG. Climeworks’ leadership said the round demonstrates strong investor appetite to accelerate deployment of carbon removal solutions in line with recent IPCC findings that carbon removal is essential to limit warming to 1.5°C. Climeworks developed and patented a direct air capture technology that removes carbon dioxide directly from the air using clean, renewable energy. The captured CO₂ can be reused in synthetic fuels, greenhouse agriculture, and carbonated beverages or permanently stored underground in volcanic rock via a mineralization process with Carbfix. The company has built multiple direct air capture plants in Europe and says it plans to rapidly increase capacity toward removing billions of tons of CO₂. Microsoft, through its Climate Innovation Fund, will provide funding for Climeworks’ first-of-a-kind commercial-scale, fully renewable carbon capture and mineralization plant in Iceland (Orca). Orca is designed to capture 4,000 tons of CO₂ per year and combines Climeworks’ DAC technology with Carbfix underground storage at a larger scale; it is described as the world’s biggest climate-positive facility to date. Microsoft will also become a customer, purchasing negative emissions from Climeworks to permanently remove 1,400 metric tons of CO₂; the plant was expected to be in operation in late spring 2021. Climeworks, founded by engineers Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, builds patented direct air capture (DAC) systems that remove CO2 directly from ambient air using clean, renewable energy. The company serves established businesses and organizations worldwide and has a growing community of individual customers pursuing climate action. Climeworks positions its solution as a genuinely pure carbon dioxide removal offering and says it will use the latest investment to improve its technology. The company plans to implement the next steps of its scale-up roadmap rapidly following the fundraise. Climeworks’ stated mission is to inspire one billion people to act now and remove carbon dioxide from the air. As of August 2020 the company completed a funding round that increased total equity from CHF 73M to CHF 100M (USD 110M). Climeworks builds modular, scalable direct air capture (DAC) plants that capture atmospheric CO2 using a filter and mainly low-grade heat. The captured pure CO2 is sold to customers across commercial agriculture, food and beverage, energy and automotive sectors, and is also sequestered for permanent removal. The company has built nine DAC plants across six countries, including the world’s first commercial DAC plant in Hinwil (May 2017) and a plant paired with underground sequestration in Iceland (opened November prior). Co-founded by Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks employs about 60 people in Zurich. The company plans to further industrialize its technology, prepare for mass production, expand its presence in pioneering markets, and strengthen its position within the direct air capture industry. The recent equity funding is intended to accelerate these efforts and expand development and commercial deployment capabilities.

Participated · Series B · Oct 2021

Getsafe began with a digital-first home contents insurance product and sells directly to customers via its website and mobile app. The company has expanded its product set to include personal liability, dog liability, drone liability, bike theft protection and car insurance. Getsafe is active in Germany and the U.K., with roughly 225,000 customers in Germany and 25,000 in the U.K.; overall customer counts have risen from about 150,000 reported in December 2020. The app is a central part of the product experience — about 30% of customers open it at least once per month, creating upsell opportunities. With new funding, Getsafe plans to obtain its own insurance license (expected to go live in 2021), invest further in product development, and expand into new markets including France, Spain, Italy and Austria. Getsafe launched with an app for home contents insurance and offers modular covers such as personal possessions and accidental damage, delivered via an easy-to-use mobile app. The company is available in Germany and the U.K. and has expanded product offerings in partnership with reinsurer Swiss Re, including a digital car insurance product optimized for smartphones. Getsafe plans to operate under its own insurance licence to accelerate product innovation and intends to launch licence-powered products in the first half of 2021. The startup reported 150,000 active customers, with 90% of users buying insurance for the first time. It also plans to test driving behaviour–based pricing in 2021 and to extend its current Series B with a second tranche ahead of the licence-powered rollout. Getsafe operates a mobile-first insurance platform that sells direct-to-consumer renters and liability policies (including bike and drone coverage) via an app and chatbot. The company says it uses AI to help customers identify needed protection and to enable fully digital claims. Founded in May 2015, Getsafe began as a digital broker and sold its brokerage business to Verivox before pivoting to its current direct insurance offering. The startup reports about 60,000 customers and employs roughly 50 people today. Getsafe plans to add more products soon, expand across Europe and launch in the U.K. by year-end. It intends to grow headcount to more than 100 and expects to raise additional funds over the next twelve months. GetSafe is a Heidelberg, Germany–based digital insurance manager that aggregates customers' insurance contracts and information in a mobile app. Users can manage existing policies on their smartphones, view coverage, report claims directly to insurers, and conclude new contracts through the app. The service automatically identifies coverage gaps and savings potentials and offers tools to optimize portfolios and terminate adverse policies. GetSafe cooperates with more than 130 insurance companies and had already gained several thousand customers. Founded in 2013 by Christian Wiens (CEO) and Marius Blaesing (CTO), the company is hiring and plans international expansion in 2016. It raised a single-digit million euro investment to bolster its position in Germany, continue technology development and further increase service quality.

Led · Series D · Aug 2020

Waterdrop operates in China’s healthcare market, positioning itself as a provider of medical alternatives. The company focuses on delivering non-traditional medical solutions, aiming to broaden healthcare options for Chinese consumers. While detailed operating metrics such as revenue or user counts were not disclosed, Waterdrop’s ability to attract a major technology investor underscores market confidence in its model. Tencent’s leadership of the latest financing signals strong strategic backing. The recent Series B injection of capital is expected to bolster the company’s expansion and product development. Waterdrop’s growing capital base indicates increasing momentum in a sector that is attracting heightened investor interest.

Led · Series A · Jun 2016

Digi.me is developing a Permissioned Access platform built on patent-pending technology that enables users to bring together data from across their lives and choose when to share it with businesses. The company’s app is available for PC, Mac, iOS and Android and gathers pictures and posts from major social networks. Current app features include universal search across platforms, daily flashbacks, custom collections and data export. Digi.me is distributed in over 140 countries and in 11 languages. The company is working on commercial projects with businesses in the health, finance, FMCG and telco sectors and plans to set up a "living lab" to be announced later in the year. Digi.me is led by founder and chairman Julian Ranger. Digi.me began in 2009 as a social-media backup and photo-search utility and has grown into a platform that aggregates a user’s personal data on their own device (with local encryption and no access to encryption keys). The company emphasizes that it does not hold users’ data centrally and plans optional personal cloud and virtual PC options for heavier processing. Digi.me is positioning a data-exchange model where every sharing event is governed by a digital certificate specifying what is shared, how it’s used, and retention/third-party rules, with use cases in health, finance, telco and FMCG. The startup reports roughly 400,000 users across 140 countries and has announced partnerships with Toshiba, Lenovo and Evernote to aid distribution. It plans to launch the data-exchange element in Q4 and to open its API in Q2 the following year. The new funding will be used to complete the tech stack for sharing permissions, widen data feeds, and to build concrete examples to cut through “noise and confusion” in the privacy market.

Led · Series A · Jun 2016

Biovotion provides clinical-grade wearable solutions based on the company’s IP and know-how in non-invasive physiological monitoring, including vital sign, hydration, and glucose tracking. Its platform targets consumers and clinical users to support healthy lifestyles, improve healthcare treatment outcomes, and help reduce healthcare costs. The company says its offerings are grounded in clinical-grade measurement capabilities. Biovotion plans to use new funding to prepare the introduction of its platform into medical markets. The company was founded in 2011 by Dr. Andreas Caduff and is based in Zurich, Switzerland. Current financing activity indicates a push toward medical-market commercialization rather than a change in core product focus.