In Europe, many people say that a 10x return expectation is simply too much. A few late stage funds that I know are happy with 3x, getting into the deal later, adding value for a couple of years, and then getting out. At the same time, corporate VCs also demand a new partnership with financial VCs that reassesses the added-value of corporate co-investors.

In London, there are a few funds combining VC and project finance: Climate Change Capital, zouk and WHEB. I still have to find out how much synergies they really create on a day-to-day basis as this is not very transparent in their communication.

The industry’s general goal should be to create more cleantech exits with fair returns and to better manage the startups and their 4 key success factors (people, product, capital and customers).