AENU
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AENU is what happens when successful serial entrepreneurs get climate religion and build a fund around it. The Heilemann brothers sold DailyDeal to Google for €100M+, built Forto into a unicorn, then pivoted hard into impact investing with serious conviction. Their €170M fund closed above target in 2024, which tells you LPs are buying what they're selling. They've got the research chops (70% of deals come from internal "deep dives") and the operational experience founders actually want. But here's the thing - they're genuinely thesis-driven, not just climate-washing. They'll pass on "green" companies that don't meet their impact bar, including anything in the animal value chain or micromobility. The portfolio is performing (9 up-rounds already) and they're backing real climate tech, not feel-good sustainability theater.
- —Best for: Deep-tech climate founders who want investors with operational unicorn experience
- —Watch out for: Very specific impact criteria - they'll pass if you don't hit their thesis exactly
- —Known for: Research-led deal sourcing and refusing to invest in climate-adjacent companies without real impact
AENU is an impact fund that invests in early-stage climate-tech and social impact companies based in Europe. AENU drives systemic transformation in venture capital towards impact, accessibility and stakeholder-alignment. It adopts a thesis-driven approach investing in companies with scalable technologies and measurable impact, prioritizing both financial returns and systemic change.
It typically invests in Seed and Series A stages, providing initial investments ranging from €500,000 to €5 million, often co-leading rounds with board representation. The team are particularly interested in five broad areas: Energy (energy production, storage, distribution); Carbon removal (carbon capture, carbon sequestration, carbon recycling); Food (alternative proteins, fermentation, plant-based and cell-based food); Enterprise (enabling software like carbon accounting; mobility; materials); Education and empowerment.
He co-founded DailyDeal which sold to Google for more than €100 million in 2011, then became a General Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital. Fabian has cofounded several companies with his brother, Ferry Heilemann, including the B2C couponing platform DailyDeal. As VCs at Earlybird and Speedinvest, we invested more than €400M, with top-quartile returns.
Ferry was cofounder and CEO of Berlin-based logistics unicorn Forto, and He previously co-founded Forto, DailyDeal and Leaders for Climate Action. He founded Heilemann Ventures together with his brother Fabian after the trade sale of his company DailyDeal to Google in 2011.
Siobhan Brewster, another partner, who was formerly a partner at fellow Berlin-based firm Amplifier. She has navigated multiple facets of the investment world, evolving from infrastructure private equity to angel investing, startup life, and ultimately, early-stage venture capital. This diverse background equips her with a unique perspective on the nuances of early-stage investing, particularly in the climate tech sector.
Previously a Partner at Speedinvest, Philip is the first Partner transitioning from a Tier-A generalist VC into an Article 9 climate impact fund. Philip Specht, Partner: "Joining from a generalist fund at the beginning of the year, it is great to now be part of a team that is characterized by a rare combination of commercial track record and impact DNA"
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