Join 3,500+ investors, founders, and innovators receiving 1 actionable tip every Saturday in your inbox to boost the growth of your Climate Fund, Startup and Career 🚀
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
--------------
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
--------------
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.
--------------
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
--------------
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.
--------------
To learn more about CLIMENTUM CAPITAL and apply for funding, please visit https://www.climentum.com
To become an LP and invest in one of Climentum’s upcoming funds, get in touch at: https://www.climentum.com/contact-form
And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER at https://www.climateinsiders.co
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Climentum
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/
Check out these top episodes
In today's show, I'm welcoming Lubomila Jordanova , the visionary co-founder and CEO of Plan A . We dig into a lot of personal stuff: -how to become a great Woman CEO, the sacrifices to make, tips to avoid burnout …
In today's show, I'm receiving Robert Höglund, one of top experts in Carbon Dioxyde Removal (or CDR). He manages the Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund, and co-founded the CDR market overview CDR.fyi. This discussion is pe...
In today's show, I'm receiving Timothee Parrique, Dr. in economics at Lund University. He is a rising scholar, who made a big splash at the European Commission Beyond Growth conference. His book on Degrowth has sold more than...
In today's show, I'm receiving Chad Frischmann, one of the co-creators of Project Drawdown, and founder of Regenerative Intelligence We talk about: - Project Drawdown's historical book, and insights from those enormous resear...
In today's show, I'm receiving Allegra Kowalewski-Ferreira, Partner at Breakthrough Energy Europe. We cover: - Discussion on the world's largest Climate Tech fund - Exploring Bill Gates' actual role in the fund - The fund's i...
In today's show, I'm welcoming Jacqueline van den Ende, Co-Founder and CEO of Carbon Equity, a Climate VC and private equity fund investing platform that enables people to invest in the world's best climate funds. We cover: -...
This time we're turning tables. I will not be conducting the interview. Instead, I will be interviewed. By popular demand, you will hear a little bit about me and my thoughts on some awesome topics, such as risk management, w...
Keiran is the Founder of Entocycle, an insect-farming startup based out of London. They commercialize high-tech insect breeding modules to enable efficient and scalable insect farming. Keiran has a TON of insights to share. -...
Irena Spazzapan is a Managing Partner at Systemiq Capital, a London-based climate fund and spin-off of Systemic Ltd. Systemiq Ltd is an advisory and investment firm focused on climate, that helps build companies that have the...
Benjamin Kayser is a former French Rugby international with a 16-year-long career (he played 47 games with the French National Team, and hundreds in the French and English championships). Benjamin is a Co-founder and Partner ...
Hampus Jakobsson is a General Partner at Pale Blue Dot , a Swedish seed-stage ClimateTech fund investing in startups that reduce and reverse the effects of climate change. He was previously at BlueYard Capital, before that an...
