Jennifer in Børsen on why climate solutions must prove their business value early

Our General Partner Jennifer Dungs was featured in Børsen, one of Denmark’s leading business newspapers. A strong and timely piece on the changing reality for green startups, and what it now takes to succeed. She shares her perspective on why climate solutions must prove their business value early, and how Europe can build the next generation of green industry leaders.

Read the article in Danish on Børsen →

She raises capital for green startups – and one thing has changed

The investment landscape for green startups has shifted – and it’s no longer enough to sell your technology on an ideological story. That’s the view of Jennifer Dungs, the new partner at the investment fund Climentum Capital. With more than 25 years of experience from companies such as Porsche and BMW, Jennifer Dungs has spent the past six years raising money for green startup companies.

The investment landscape has changed over the years that American-born Jennifer Dungs has been working to raise capital for green companies. She operates within some of the most critical climate solution areas and has, over the past six years, built a portfolio of more than 40 green startups developing batteries, power grids, and technologies to reduce industrial emissions.

But something has shifted since she entered the field. “There used to be a greater tolerance for experimentation and less pressure for brand-new companies to deliver major revenues and results early on,” says Jennifer Dungs, who has just joined the Danish green investment fund Climentum Capital as a partner.

Her role will be to strengthen the fund’s investments in energy, transport, and industry – and, hopefully, to identify Europe’s next generation of green champions.

“If you can’t show that your solution is business-critical, it’ll be cut the moment the customer needs to find savings.”

At the same time, she must navigate an investment environment where delays and bankruptcies among green startups – combined with macroeconomic uncertainty – have made investors more cautious and less generous when allocating capital.
But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, she notes.

“The investment landscape has also matured in recent years. I think this caution has made us more thorough. Today we see much faster innovation cycles, and the technical ambition and quality of founders are much higher,” says Dungs.

‘Nice-to-have’ no longer sells

Jennifer Dungs isn’t alone in that observation. The Danish Export and Investment Fund (Eifo) has previously told Børsen that it, too, has found it harder to attract co-investors for green companies, with a growing focus on profitability.

The same applies to the Dutch-Danish venture fund Rockstart, which invests in startups in food, energy, and disruptive technologies. Earlier this year, CEO Rune Theil also pointed out that capital has shifted direction — moving from early-stage sustainable startups toward more established, lower-risk companies. Still, Dungs isn’t worried about the future of green startup investment — not even with a U.S. president currently waging war against anything resembling green transition, and with both small and large players in green energy facing more headwinds than tailwinds lately. She sees strong potential in new technologies that can reduce CO₂ emissions in heavy industry.

But, she stresses, it’s no longer enough to sell your technology purely on the promise of making the world a better place. It’s too hard to sell a nice-to-have product in today’s investment climate. “There needs to be a sense of necessity — something your customers simply can’t do without because, for instance, it makes their business more efficient. If you can’t show that your solution is business-critical, it’ll be cut the moment the customer needs to save money,” says Dungs.

Europe more stable

In addition to her six years raising capital for green companies, Climentum Capital’s new partner brings over 25 years of senior experience from Porsche, BMW, and Ford. She also holds a PhD in chemistry and, in her own words, “loves building bridges between new technologies and market commercialization.” Now, as she searches for Europe’s next green growth opportunities, she is looking closely at two areas. The first is energy – including grid development and the electrification of society. Here, Denmark is notably lagging behind, something the business community has repeatedly criticized.

One of the key challenges concerns Denmark’s electricity grid expansion, where long delays have stalled billion-euro solar and wind projects, while companies eager to move away from fossil fuels currently lack access to sufficient power. The second area is built infrastructure, spanning everything from data to transport. “In heavy transport, there’s an urgent need to modernize and cut CO₂ emissions. I see great potential there,” she says. However, one of the major challenges for green startups in Europe remains the limited availability of capital. Only about 0.1% of institutional funds in Europe go into venture capital – compared to around 10% in the U.S.

If Europe could raise that figure to just 1–2%, Dungs says, “that would be fantastic.” At the same time, American investors tend to be more risk-tolerant than their European counterparts.

“Europe’s strength, however, lies in greater political stability and a clear commitment to sustainability. European investors are indeed more thorough and conservative, but I think that can actually help create stronger companies — because so much time and energy go into ensuring the financial and technical foundations of startups."