Newcomer of the Year Finalist: Clare Murray on building Blume Equity & investing in sustainable companies

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Newcomer of the Year Finalist: Clare Murray on building Blume Equity & investing in sustainable companies

This episodes features an exciting conversation with Clare on the story behind Blume Equity and bridging the funding gap in European climate tech. Don't miss Clare's notes below ⏬

May 14, 2024

Transcript

Celebrating one of the finalists in the Newcomer of the Year category at this year’s European VC Awards, this episode dives deep with Clare Murray, co-founder and Managing Partner of Blume Equity.

Blume Equity is a climate-tech growth equity firm investing in companies driving sustainable outcomes for planet and people. With offices in Amsterdam and London, and based in Luxembourg, the fund invests in European growth-stage companies, with core regions being the UK, Benelux, the Nordics, Germany, and Ireland.

Some of the most notable investments include:

Sensorfact, a provider of an IoT data solutions that enable European industrial SMEs to reduce energy usage.
Aerones - a leading robotics company providing inspection and maintenance services to the wind turbine industry.
Normative - a carbon accounting platform focusing on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for large enterprise clients.
Matsmart Motatos - a Swedish company tackling FMCG food waste.

I highly encourage you to read Claire’s notes below and tune in for this episode.

Spotlight on Our Esteemed Newcomer-Award Sponsor

We express our profound thanks to Floww, the sponsor for the Newcomer Award. Their support has been crucial to allow us to acknowledge our new European VC Champions in style.

Floww simplifies venture capital fund management with FlowwFunds, a full funds management solution which removes the friction and fragmentation associated with the private markets, on a single platform.

Engage with Floww

Chapters:

03:29 Celebrating Bloom Equity's Nomination
04:13 Claire's Journey to Co-Founding Bloom Equity
06:36 Introducing the Co-Founders of Bloom Equity
08:27 Bridging the Funding Gap in European Climate Tech
09:35 Analyzing the European Funding Ecosystem
25:19 Bloom Equity's Investment Thesis and Market Approach
33:47 Exploring LP Bases and Global Investment Dynamics
34:02 Growth Stage Investment Frustrations with Early Stage VCs
34:38 Timing and Preparation for Market Entry
36:32 The Importance of Strategic Venture Fund Relationships
40:48 Navigating the Challenges of Establishing a New Fund
44:37 Brand Building and Strategic Networking for Success
48:02 Key Learnings on Personal and Professional Growth
53:24 The Art of Influence and Valuation in Venture Investing

Journey into venture capital

Started off in traditional investing at Goldman Sachs in NY
Spent majority of my career in sustainable investing
First at BlackRock, where I helped to build their sustainable investment platform – particularly excited about supporting private companies solving global challenges
Then LeapFrog, a growth equity impact firm
Prior to co-founding Blume Equity

Growth stage funding gap in climate tech in Europe

Robust European venture ecosystem – funds, government entities, angels
Despite the fact that Europe creates more new startups than the US (and has consistently for every one of the past five years), the number of scale-up businesses in the EU, particularly unicorns, lags behind the US. While companies from the two regions have the same likelihood to scale to a $1 billion-plus outcome, the easier access to capital in the US has propelled more US companies to this milestone
European clean technology start-ups have attracted less than half as much funding as their US counterparts
Impact the IRA has on European climate-tech start-ups. Investment as US counterparts since the IRA’s package of climate subsidies and tax credits was announced.
European traditional investors conservative and hyper focused on profitable companies
Fragmented funding options for growth stage companies (some family offices, some government entities, some European funds, some American funds…)
Lower valuations in Europe versus US
Positive efforts via The European Investment Bank’s Scale-up Initiative (€500m to foster the growth phase of innovative European technology companies).
More European funds raising at scale

Shout-out.

Shout out to my co-founders; this is like a marriage
Shout out to a LP – Abegg & Co – catalytic in providing us with warehouse capital enabling us to invest together in advance of Blume Equity
Supportive with references // co-investments

3 biggest learnings from last 10 years in your life.

When something isn’t right, make a change sooner rather than later
Have a personal Board of Advisors – make sure you keep them updated versus just reaching out to them for asks
Investing is a people business

Advice to your 10 year younger self.

Back yourself
Bring people along the journey
Moisturize

Top tips for emerging VCs fundraising.

Do deals – must be on strategy
Identify early investors
Build a brand
Momentum is everything

Most counterintuitive learned in VC.

Price isn’t the end all, be all
While important to have the right legal protections going into an investment, its not everything à all about influence and alignment
Be loud and proud of what you don’t know

🎓 Upcoming Academy Sessions

Fund Modelling in VC: Assumptions Sheet Construction

🌍 Virtual | 📅 Thursday, May 16 | 🕰️ 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM CET | € 200

Get your ticket

This advanced fund modelling session focuses on creating an assumptions sheet for a VC fund model. We'll explore three key areas (Core Assumptions, Asset Development, and Equity Valuation Dynamics) to demonstrate their impact on fund performance.

You'll receive an assumption sheet template one week prior, and the session will focus on examining how assumptions affect fund performance, tailored to the information you provide upon registration.

👋 Upcoming in-person events we’re hosting

There’s nothing we like better than getting Europe’s best and brightest together with good food, drinks, and conversations that go truly deep.

SuperVenture Side event on Realizing DPI | 5th of June | 🌍 Berlin, Germany | Join the waitlist.

European VC Awards | 4th of June | 🌍 Berlin, Germany | Get tickets.

📅 Upcoming virtual events

From time to time, a podcast is just not enough. Check out our roundtables and live events below.

🏆 Firesides with the winners of the European VC Awards

Fireside with the Newcomer of the Year Winner | 13/6, 12-1:30 PM | Register here. Hundreds of new VC funds come to market every year. But only ONE will win Newcomer of The Year. This is your chance to meet the winner firsthand.

Fireside chat with the Winner of the Hall of Fame | 25/6, 12-1 PM | Register here.
Hear firsthand from a true giant upon whose shoulders the European tech ecosystem stands tall.