Welcome back to another EUVC Podcast, where we explore the lessons, frameworks, and insights shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.
Today, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Jan Lozek, Co-Founder and Managing Director and Founder of Future Energy Ventures (FEV), the Berlin-based climate-tech investor born from the carve-out of E.ON’s corporate venture arm.
With a 50-company track record and a new €235M fund, Jan shares what it takes to spin out from a corporate, how to invest across the energy transition with venture discipline, and why Europe’s renewable leadership is creating both opportunity and complexity.
🎧 Here’s what’s covered
01:41 Jan’s personal journey from Berlin’s early tech scene to shaping E.ON’s venture arm.
04:02 The moment FEV’s carve-out became inevitable and how independence was structured.
09:33 Inside the two-fund model: managing E.ON’s legacy portfolio while launching a new EU fund.
11:27 FEV’s thesis: software-first, Series A–B investments driving the energy transition.
13:33 Grid intelligence - trading flexibility, AI for grid balance, and the battery boom.
16:35 The economics of renewables: why decarbonization now pays for itself.
21:11 Data centers and AI’s energy demand - the US urgency vs. Europe’s slow policy gears.
24:16 Electrifying cities - EV fleets, industrial decarbonization, and heat-pump adoption.
33:24 How FEV supports founders through market turbulence, pivots, and bridge rounds.
46:32 Scaling to billions: fund growth, LP lessons, and advice to Europe’s climate founders.
🎧 Listen on Apple or Spotify — chapters ready to go.
✍️ Show Notes
The FEV Story
Future Energy Ventures began as E.ON’s in-house VC in 2016 with a €300M mandate to explore renewables, grid tech, and digital energy. After E.ON acquired innogy SE from RWE, Jan and his team saw the need for independence to stay competitive. By the end of 2023, he together with Veronique Hördemann, Patrick Elftmann, Jan Palasinski and Moritz Jungmann spun out as an autonomous fund advisor while continuing to manage the legacy portfolio under contract, an uncommon but elegant carve-out model.
Today, FEV runs:
A legacy fund (E.ON-owned, 50 portfolio companies, managed externally until 2028).
A new €230M fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, open to global LPs, focusing on decarbonization software, energy optimization, and e-mobility infrastructure.
Investment Focus
FEV backs asset-light climate tech at Series A–B, typically with €1–2M ARR, with initial tickets of €1–10M.
They avoid hardware-heavy bets, instead focusing on software and platform layers that enable:
Smart grids & AI-driven infrastructure
Battery trading & flexibility markets
Industrial & building decarbonization tools
EV fleet & energy orchestration systems
Europe’s Energy Transition
Europe’s grid now faces the paradox of success: 100% renewable days create imbalance and volatility.
This opens massive opportunities for startups building:
Real-time grid intelligence
Aggregation and balancing platforms
Predictive AI for renewable optimization
Renewables are no longer moral imperatives; they’re economic winners, outpricing fossil and nuclear alternatives.
Data, AI & Energy Sovereignty
The US is racing to build energy capacity for AI infrastructure; Europe debates regulation and sovereignty first.
Jan argues this gap is both a weakness and an opening, Europe’s policy lag means startups can shape standards around energy-efficient data and compute systems.
Cities as Energy Hubs
Urban decarbonization is now investable:
EV fleets for logistics and public transport
Industrial energy retrofits using smart sensors
Heating and cooling efficiency tech
Heat-pump adoption programs (aided by Germany’s 60% subsidy).
These municipal shifts will define Europe’s next generation of scalable climate startups.
The Market Reality
Venture activity in climate tech is down ~40% YoY; late-stage capital dominates.
FEV filters more rigorously for profitability and capital efficiency from day one.
Example: Thermondo, a residential heat pump company, scaled from €1M to market leader and secured a €50M debt line to finance customer installs.
Supporting Founders
FEV acts as an operational co-pilot:
Ecosystem access: energy corporates, industrial buyers, and policy networks.
People ops: in-house psychologist coaching founders through turbulence.
Technology depth: internal CTO-level advisors for product pivots.
As Jan put it, their role often goes beyond money — it’s about helping founders find courage when things get hard.
Regulation: Help or Hindrance?
Europe’s renewables boom was built on regulation (German solar subsidies), but fragmentation now slows scale.
Still, smart regulation drives inclusion - e.g., Germany’s heat-pump subsidy enabling lower-income households to electrify homes.
Jan argued that Europe’s challenge isn’t regulation but ambition — founders often celebrate €50M exits while US peers aim for €500M outcomes.
Fundraising & Scale
FEV has delivered a 2× TVPI on its legacy portfolio. Jan and team met over 1,000 LPs during the fundraise to overcome the “Cleantech 1.0” hangover.
Next target: €500M+ Growth Fund by 2027, building toward €1B AUM to stay relevant against generalist megafunds.
Founder Advice
1️⃣ Think bigger. Build for global scale, not local exit.
2️⃣ Stay humble, turn every stone. Fundraising is a numbers game.
3️⃣ Build the machine. The best founders scale through people and process.
💡 One-liner Takeaway
Europe’s energy transition has moved from theory to investable system.
The next decade belongs to founders digitizing grids, decarbonizing cities, and treating sustainability as a business model, not a belief.
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