Introducing Kiko Ventures – a $450 million evergreen cleantech venture investor
The climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our generation. It affects everything in our lives from the food we eat to the homes we live in.
But it is a challenge we can confront by unleashing innovation and investing in transformative technologies.
By focusing investment on solutions from category-leading cleantech champions like C-Capture, which has patented the world’s most energy-efficient-process for capturing carbon dioxide, we have a chance of mitigating this crisis.
Or Oxbotica whose ground-breaking autonomous mobility software will make the world a safer, more sustainable and more accessible place.
Or First Light Fusion, which has achieved a world first fusion result faster and cheaper than traditional fusion approaches
These, and many more like them, are businesses making a huge difference in our progress in the fight against climate change.
As UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.”
That’s why Kiko Ventures is being launched today. To bring a new, more flexible way of financing the critical innovation we need as part of having a better chance of winning this race.
Kiko-warriors
Our founding team has dedicated their entire careers to addressing the problems of climate change.
Robert Trezona and Jamie Vollbracht are successful IP Group veterans. Arne Morteani, is one of the most experienced investors in this sector, having previously spent 14 years helping to build, one of Europe’s leading cleantech VC funds.
Between us, working alongside other members of the IP Group cleantech team, we have brought passion and stamina to this field over the last two decades – both in investing and operational roles.
We’ve steered innovative businesses through tough economic climates and the boom and bust of past cycles.
We’re in frequent communication with an extensive network of contacts, including researchers at top universities, brilliant entrepreneurs, billionaire investors and executives on the boards of global energy corporations.
And we have a track record of success in helping to turn great clean technology ideas into world-leading businesses that can have a transformative impact on the climate, such as supporting Ceres Power from very early technology to unicorn status on the public markets.
Kiko Ventures is the culmination of decades of insight, intelligence and understanding when it comes to the transformative technology needed to make a meaningful difference in the battle against climate change.
A Kiko-friendly future
As the climate crisis continues to take hold, we are seeing a resurgence in investment in climate tech across the developed world. Figures from Climate Tech VC suggest global investment reached an all-time high of $40bn last year.
But capital alone isn’t enough. Launched by the FTSE 250-listed investment firm IP Group, Kiko is the world’s first evergreen cleantech VC investor. That’s why we called it Kiko (climate in Japanese).
With this $450m (£375 million) platform of truly flexible capital, we have a better chance of investing in the right technologies and opportunities to create a regenerative future.
As an evergreen platform without a fixed, ten-year investment mandate, Kiko Ventures has the most flexible approach to cleantech investing in the world, without the short time horizons, fixed capital constraints, and narrow mandates that are common in the industry.
Without the need to raise traditional funds or any conflicts of interest, we can be a long-term partner to climate tech innovators and invest in the most difficult but also most rewarding opportunities.
Our flexibility means we can do deals that other VCs could not do. For instance, when, under the IP Group banner, the Kiko team invested in Ceres, a listed company, its survival was in doubt, and it was worth just £1m. Eight years later the business was worth a £1bn and employed over 300 people. Our support – as well as IP Group’s flexible capital – was crucial to turning this business around so that it could become a world-leading clean technology company.
Deals like this are what drive us forward. We can’t wait to unveil Kiko Ventures to the world and work with other founding teams and investors to give the world a fighting chance of resolving the challenges we face.
