Partner Interview: Dörte
February 5, 2024
Why did you choose to be a VC?
From my early school years, I felt a pull toward the wider world. I grew up in a small rural town in Germany. The choice to study business in Munich was unusual where I came from but felt natural to me.
Beyond thinking big, I had little idea of what exactly I wanted to do. You could say that my instincts have pushed me along and eventually led me to roles where I was able to generate impact. After several formative years at McKinsey, scaling start-ups with Rocket Internet and founding my own software company, I landed on what best suited my skills and passions and gave me purpose: climate investing.
Why did you launch an Article 9 fund?
I’m interested in solving real problems. I don’t want to work out solutions to problems that aren’t actually important. I don’t want to figure out how to deliver pizza even quicker, or simply find ways to make things more profitable.
I have a natural understanding of the tech world, particularly the engineering side of things, and many years’ experience commercializing businesses. I wanted to apply this to climate change mitigation. For this, an Article 9 fund is an enabler. It’s the right format if you want to invest in what actually matters and your ambition is to reshape the very fabric of industry.
Which success are you most proud of?
I had to fight to bring together Austrian startup Fermify’s seed funding round, which Climentum Capital led. Fermify’s solution, a biotech platform for vegan cheese proteins, is extremely promising. But the team was struggling to attract funding as investors in the alternative protein and dairy space already had related investments in their portfolios.
After extensive research and spending lots of time with Fermify’s founder Eva, I knew that the company had what it takes to succeed and decided to lead the due diligence. I counted on Stefan’s biotech network and with a lot of effort in building the syndicate and structuring the round, Fermify raised a strong round in 2023 in spite of the macro environment. The company is now already performing above expectations.
How do you decide who to invest in?
Everybody in VC circles says the team is essential. That’s true. But not everybody knows how to actually assess a team. Years in HR have taught me how to ask the right questions, how to not lead for answers but ask open-ended questions and how to listen closely for hints about the team dynamics. My understanding of how people and teams work helps me cut through the noise and identify the founders with potential.
I’ve never invested without meeting the core team in person and seeing it interact. I need to leave with a strong perception that it knows when and how to take guidance. If I feel my advice won’t be taken on board, then I know it won’t work.
The key is not to be led astray by other factors. Even if all the numbers look good, the market feels ready and the product seems solid, this is close to meaningless if the dynamics in the founding team don’t work.
Why do you invest in hard tech?
In short, we invest in hard tech because we are able to, because it matters and because it will deliver on our financial and emission reduction goals.
Many climate VCs focus on software solutions. They’re very attractive, largely because they’re easy to scale and often promise outsize returns. I have nothing against software, but it can only solve climate problems to a certain degree.
To really transform high-emitting industries and significantly reduce and even eliminate emissions, we need to embrace hardware and deep-tech solutions. But they’re hard to scale, both from a technological and a commercial perspective. As they’re solving real industry problems, the companies in our portfolio will create value in almost all scenarios, while macro trends hold the promise of outsized returns. This makes hard tech perfect for our dual carry model.
Few VCs bring together the knowledge and courage to support hard tech founders, so they remain underfunded. Malin, Morten, Stefan and I happen to have the expertise needed and so we chose to fill this gap and launched an Article 9 fund.
