A/O, one of Europe’s largest venture capital firms, has reached the first close of its new flagship fund targeting €250 million.
Founded in 2019, A/O is primarily focused on built-world technologies which aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build climate resiliency, accelerate the energy transition and digitalise the real estate and construction industries.
According to recent reports, real estate is one of the least digitised and the most polluting industries globally, responsible for an estimated 40% of global CO2 emissions.
If left unchecked, these emissions are projected to double by 2050 as our economies continue to build more to accommodate growing populations and rapid global urbanisation.
In its first fund, A/O invested in 22 companies throughout the lifecycle of the built world, including UK-based firms Satellite Vu (Earth observation) and Plentific (property management software platform and trades marketplace).
The first investment from Fund II has already been announced with Germany-based Enter’s €19.4 million Series A.
A/O currently counts 13 team members, across investments, research and data science with a unique diversity of background, experience, ethnicity and gender. With Fund II, the firm plans to hire more investors, as well as its first head of sustainability who will help execute on the firm’s proprietary ‘impactful change’ framework and help accelerate sustainability goals across its stakeholders.
“We believe this is one of the largest industry transitions of our generation that will see the emergence of some of the most significant category defining technology companies globally,” Gregory Dewerpe, founder and CIO of A/O.
“Furthermore, the emergence of AI in the built world is showing very promising potential to further accelerate the transition to automation, efficiency and transparency across the entire lifecycle of assets and power the next wave of adoption.
“We believe the transition of the built world is the most tangible way to tackle climate change today and with this new fund we will continue to dedicate our time, resources and attention to it. The more challenging market conditions of the last 18 months have been a great reminder for many that being a specialist firm with deep expertise, backing technology that matters, and aiming to solve mission-critical problems is a good place to be in.
“A lot of the attention on climate change appears to remain somewhat misdirected, creating a false impression that we can solve climate change simply with meatless burgers or paper straws or carbon credits. We can’t.
“That doesn’t mean those initiatives are not important, but rather that they are, in our view , not decisive or impactful enough, at a time of great urgency when we are potentially years away from being caught irreversibly offside. We must focus our time, resources and attention on what truly moves the needle now. Onwards and upwards.”