Amsterdam-based Rockstart closes its Energy fund at €27M; here’s its rock-solid investment plan

Amsterdam-based Rockstart, a global accelerator-VC, announced on Thursday that it has made the final close of Rockstart’s Energy Fund at €27M. 

Rockstart says that it supports purpose-driven founders across three domains – Energy, AgriFood and Emerging Tech. The VC plans to invest the new fund in early-stage energy startups and co-invest in its energy portfolio companies up to the Series B stage.

The fund saw participation from the founder of Hubs.com, Rockstart 2013 alumni, and several Rockstart mentors.

Rune Theill, co-founder of Rockstart, says, “The recent events in Ukraine and the long-standing climate crisis calls for action more than ever. We are honoured and proud to partake in supporting and empowering the next generation of founders driving the energy transition across Europe to develop alternative energy solutions and build a sustainable and resilient energy system.”

Investing in startups focused on driving the energy transition

Rockstart Energy empowers businesses to scale and drive the transformation towards renewable, clean and low carbon energy solutions for cities and communities. The programme runs for approximately five months, online and onsite (if local health regulations allow), in Amsterdam as well as provides investments from Seed to Series B round. 

The programme also offers one Deep Dive Week per month wherein it focuses on themes such as funding, pitching, sales, and financials.

The programme also includes knowledgeable mentors who facilitate collaboration, help connect with potential investors, provide expert sessions and one-on-one consultancy for hands-on support, hold individual coaching sessions, facilitate peer-to-peer sessions to learn from each other and portfolio companies, and much more.

Capital utilisation

The Energy fund is Rockstart’s second fund. Rockstart’s first fund was launched in 2019 and is focused on agtech and foodtech startups. The Energy fund has invested in 19 startups from seven countries since its launch in October 2020.

With the raised funds, Rockstart Energy is planning to make new investments in the coming months in ‘promising’ energy startups, which are addressing the following themes: decentralisation, decarbonisation, and digitalisation.

Max ter Horst, Managing Partner Energy, Rockstart, says, “The provided capital will allow us to fund the scaling of Europe’s most promising energy startups. By supporting early-stage businesses that are addressing the decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitisation trends in the energy industry, we intend to accelerate the transition to a net-zero energy system, while ensuring affordable and reliable energy power for everyone.”

With the aim of driving and measuring positive impact on a global scale, Rockstart and its funds are also actively supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Energy fund focuses on five of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and infrastructure, responsible consumption and production and climate action.

Rockstart – One of Europe’s first startup accelerators

Founded in 2011, Rockstart is a domain-focused accelerator venture capital firm that provides follow-on growth funding to support and empower the “best” startups on their way to success across four domains: energy, health, agrifood, and emerging technologies. 

The firm also provides startups with access to capital, market, community, and expertise by connecting them to partners, investors, mentors, and the wider Rockstart network.

The accelerator offers programmes to boost collaboration between startups and corporates, providing them access to co-creation, commercial partnerships, and investment. It has experience in designing and executing programmes for Maersk, Shell, Dutch Ministry of Health, and many others.

Since its inception, Rockstart has invested in more than 260 startups and its alumni value to date is $1B. The company has a team of more than 40+ professionals dedicated to empowering ‘purpose-driven founders to become scalable and drive positive change on a global scale’.

Rockstart has notable exits such as Wercker, Bouw7, iClinic, and in 2021, 3D Hubs and Brincr. The company has offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Bogota.

In May 2021, Rockstart had announced the closing of its AgriFood fund at €22M with the participation of Vaekstfonden’s Green Future Fund, alongside new informal investors such as Joke Pronk and longtime Rockstart investors, Marcel Beemsterboer, Jasper de Rooij, Hans Maltha and, new investor global dairy cooperative Arla Foods.