Green Angel Ventures Limited
Green Angel Ventures (GAV), the UK’s only climate-focused angel syndicate, has invested over £300 million in 50+ early-stage companies across energy, water, waste, food, and bioeconomy sectors. With a strong track record, GAV shares lessons on avoiding the “Valley of Death” and supporting start-ups to scale successfully.
Green Angel Ventures (GAV) is the only angel investment syndicate (+300 angels) in the United Kingdom specialising in the fight against climate change. It has invested in more than 50 different early-stage companies, in rounds worth more than £300 million. Typical investment sizes range from £500,000 to £2 million. Its specialisation covers Energy, Water Management, Waste & Recycling, Food & Agriculture, and Nature-based (Bioeconomy) sectors. GAV has won multiple awards for its contribution to this specialised investment niche.
Angel investments are most commonly the correct instrument for start-up, pre-revenue, pilot/demonstration stage (TRL6/7) and then initial growth of an innovative company, rather than scale-up. During this period, the company aims to build the foundations of an order book with one or two launch customers. The subsequent challenge of scaling up involves the transition to multiple customers, volume sales, volume production, and scaled-up production.
GAV has a track record of success: more than 50 companies in the portfolio, and only five have failed. The specialist skills of the syndicate contribute to reducing risk and maximising growth; hence, a number of GAV portfolio companies have reached the scale-up stage and successfully negotiated the challenge.
GAV’s presentation covers lessons learned about the Valley of Death, and how the problems of scaling up can be avoided, sometimes without incurring the risk and complication of investment.
From GAV’s experience, there are investment examples that resulted in extending the company’s cost base in the interests of apparent growth, which never materialised. For instance, a company which committed to expansion for a customer whose confirmation of the largest order in the company’s short history was withdrawn at the last minute, or a company which took advantage of capital grants from the public sector to build a new production facility without the volume of business to soak up the additional capacity. Consequently, the cash flow of both companies was threatened with collapse. Other key lessons include the opposite – raising enough money to cover the Valley of Death, and more, to avoid running out of cash, which helped ensure success.
Contact information
Nick Lyth
Founder and President, Green Angel Ventures Limited
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