27 Udo Zillmann Daidalos Capital Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 36 60325 Frankfurt am Main Germany zillmann@daidalos-capital.de www.daidalos-capital.de
AWE Financing Strategies
Obstacles - Strategies - Outlook
Udo Zillmann Daidalos Capital
Obstacles
Providing sufficient funding for costly technology develop-ments of start-up companies has often proved difficult. In the field of AWE many companies have experienced funding constraints, many potential founders failed to even start their project due to lack of financing. The presentation will show the results of interviews on the financing situation that were conducted at the beginning of 2013 in the AWE community amongst start-ups and financing parties.
These results will be compared with the financing difficul-ties that are experienced by start-ups in general and more specifically in the field of renewable energy. It will be shown whether and to which extent the financing constraints are AWE specific.
Also, the biggest (perceived) obstacles for securing sufficient financing for this industry will be identified.
Strategies
The talk will depict the financing strategies AWE companies used so far and are planning to use in the near future. It will be analyzed which general rules can be derived from these strategies and which lessons other AWE start-ups can learn from these strategies regarding suitable financing sources and the prerequisites to successfully tap them.
Outlook
It is clear that the financing needs of AWE companies will further increase as prototypes and technology demonstrators grow in size and sophistication. Once final market products have to be developed, tested, certified, built, and deployed in wind parks, the financing requirements will reach new dimensions. The presentation will discuss whether and how sufficient (and new?) financing sources can be found to meet these needs or if AWE companies will have to perish in the “Valley of Death”. Special emphasis will be put on the role of Venture Capital investments in AWE companies, togeth-er with reasons for their low involvement in the past and whether this will likely change in the future.
Presenter
Udo Zillmann has been an active investor in various AWE start-ups for the last years. Through his investment vehicle Daidalos Capital he is advising other investors on invest-ments in AWE companies. For a publication in the upcoming AWE book he has conducted a series of interviews amongst AWE companies and financing parties regarding the sta-tus quo and future of AWE financing and has compared this with the situation in other technology fields. He was a speak-er in AWEC2011 and presented AWE at the European Wind Energy Association yearly conference 2012
