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Last month, it was announced that investment firm Energy Infrastructure Partners was acquiring a majority stake in BayWa r.e., the renewable energy business of German conglomerate BayWa.
In the midst of this transition, BayWa r.e.’s corporate VC unit, BayWa Energy Ventures – which had not invested in any new startups since late 2023 – announced it was spinning out of the corporate umbrella and establishing itself as an independent unit called rEnergy Partners.
My guest today is Greg Zavorotniy, who was managing director at what was then called BayWa Energy Ventures, and is now partner at rEnergy Partners. We talk about the advantages of being able to invest from outside the corporate architecture, the unit’s plans to raise a fund north of $200m to invest in cleantech startups, and their plans to bring in multiple LPs.
We also talk about how investing in cleantech is different from other venture asset classes, why it requires more prudent portfolio management, as well as about the future of decentralised energy generation, what kind of fund structures are appropriate for the kind of patient capital needed for cleantech, and more.