First cheques forcleantech startups
I write €50–150k into cleantech startups at pre-seed — usually earlier than a VC will look, and usually where the risk is still physics rather than sales. Since 2019 I've invested in 48 companies and 6 funds, mostly in Western Europe and North America. I studied applied physics at Delft, ran companies for 19 years, and read every deck myself.
What I fund
Read this before you send anything. Most decks I turn down are turned down on these lines alone, and both of us can save the week it takes to find that out by email.
- Physical technology — reactors, cells, catalysts, membranes, machines
- University and research-institute spin-outs with patents you can link to
- Fusion and advanced nuclear
- Batteries, storage and their materials
- Carbon capture, utilisation and removal
- Circular materials and waste valorisation
- Industrial heat, electrification and efficiency
- Precision fermentation and bio-based feedstocks
- Software-only businesses, marketplaces and consumer apps
- Carbon accounting, ESG reporting and climate SaaS
- Companies past Series A, or rounds where €150k is a rounding error
- Pre-team ideas with no technical founder
- Anything where the core innovation is a business model, not a technology
- Projects needing a lead investor — I follow, I don't lead
- Requests to sign an NDA before a first conversation
How I decide
My background is physics, so I go at the technology first and the spreadsheet second. These are the questions I'm actually answering while I read. The full version — including the thirteen slides I want in a deck and a reading list — is on the founders page.
Does it work outside the lab?
Scale-up path, energy balance, and what happens to the numbers when you leave ideal conditions.
Is it still the best route in five years?
Cheaper or better competing approaches are the usual reason a good technology loses.
What stops a copy?
Granted or filed patents, with links. Trade secrets need a story about why they hold.
How much CO₂ in 5–10 years?
Show the arithmetic behind the tonnes, not the tonnes alone.
Who has done the hard part before?
I read every LinkedIn profile properly, and I follow up with shared contacts.
Do I believe the deck?
Sources for external data, a valuation that matches the stage, and a forecast you'd defend.
What has moved since founding?
Letters of intent, paying pilots, grants, competition shortlists — evidence someone else agrees.
Who buys the first unit?
A named beachhead customer with an economic reason to switch beats a large TAM.
Is 10x in 5–10 years plausible?
It doesn't have to be an exit. Dividends count, and for hardware they sometimes come sooner.
Where the money went
All 54 positions since 2019, including the funds and studios. Filter by domain — the marks in the timeline above light up with it.
Pjotr van Schothorst
When I started studying applied physics at Delft in 1980, I wanted to work on nuclear fusion — it looked like the answer to the world's energy, water and ultimately food problems. Commercial fusion kept receding, so I redirected: first to other forms of energy, then to more practical things like 3D graphics and simulation, where I spent 19 years co-founding two companies that are both still running.
I now invest the profits of one of them in the field I started in. Fusion is finally back on my list — five positions and counting — alongside batteries, carbon removal, waste valorisation and industrial electrification.
What I offer beyond the cheque: a technical read on your own technology, honest feedback on the deck and the go-to-market, a look at team composition, and warm introductions to the VCs who lead the next round. On the harder questions I lean on a small group of partners with track records in chemical engineering, IP protection, and strategy and risk analysis.
Send a deck
No warm introduction needed. Fill this in or email me directly at pjotr@pvs-investments.com with the deck attached as a PDF.
- Within three weeks — a yes-to-a-call or a no, with the reason.
- If we talk — one hour, mostly on the technology and the scale-up path.
- If it goes further — I speak to your references and read the patents, then decide.
- A no is not permanent. Several of the companies above were a no the first time.