105 Finding the venture opportunity in the energy transition with Reuben Wilcock of Blackfinch Ventures

The EIS Navigator

When an fund manager jumps into a new area, its always tempting to ask why. Blackfinch Ventures has launched a fund focussing on the energy transition, we asked Head of Ventures Reuben Wilcock back on the podcast to discuss it.

In a wide ranging discussion we talk about:

• what the energy transition is and why he thinks its attractive
• how he chose the themes to look at
• whether the pace of change in the economy is fast enough
• whether there are enough investments
• the role of strategic investors and their commitment
• prioritising returns over impact
• applications in industry and storage
• translating science into a good business
• the challenge of sequencing
• finding appropriate metrics
• investor interest in environmental investments

Although this is a known area, it is interesting to get the perspective of a new entrant who has analysed the market and found it attractive. There's lots of insights as usual from Reuben - enjoy!

01:00 Reuben introduces himself

03:00 introduction to Blackfinch Investments

04:45 what is energy transition and why chosen

08:10 choosing the themes within that

09:00 whether the pace of change is fast enough?

11:50 are there adequate investments in the sector

15:30 commitment of strategic investors

17:45 concern over prioritising impact over returns

21:20 what other themes he is seeing

25:30 science that makes a good business

27:10 prevalence of secondaries

29:20 technology dependence and sequencing

34:00 energy storage

40:40 appropriate metrics

42:00 investor interest and demand in environmental areas

47:10 favourite questions

Links

Blackfinch - https://www.blackfinch.com/

Blackfinch Ventures - https://blackfinch.ventures/

Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen

Suggested books and media

Working Backwards by Colin Bryar & Bill Carr

Bio

Reuben Wilcock

Head of Ventures, Blackfinch Ventures

Reuben’s expertise in advising early stage companies has developed through a background spanning academia, technology start-ups and start-up acceleration. He has founded or co-founded four technology start-ups including Joulo, a smart home energy spinout which won the 2013 British Gas Connected Homes award and was acquired by Quby in 2014, and Bar Analytics, an IoT start-up that enables global brands to monitor beer quality and sales.

With a PhD in Electronics, Reuben has extensive product design experience with deep technical knowledge of hardware, software and manufacturing. He is an inventor on five patents and named author on over 45 peer reviewed publications ranging from integrated circuit design to genetic algorithms. Before joining Blackfinch, Reuben was a leading figure in entrepreneurship at the University of Southampton where he sat on its IP Panel for five years, guiding the commercialisation of research innovations through licensing and spinouts.

Reuben is a Royal Academy of Engineering award winning entrepreneur, and the lifetime membership that affords has offered visibility of some of the most innovative university spinouts in the UK. In 2015 Reuben founded and ran the Future Worlds accelerator, mentoring over 250 entrepreneurs and 50 companies over a four-year period. Companies included 5G silicon IP spinout Accelercomm, AI computer vision company Aura Vision, IoT transport startup Route Reports and HGV data analytics company Dynamon. Whilst at Future Worlds, Reuben also developed the business plan and was the execution partner for the Z21 Fund, run in partnership with the Solent LEP.

Disclaimer

Please note this podcast/interview does not constitute a financial promotion and is provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as an invitation or offer to buy or sell any investments. Please be aware that investments into unquoted companies are high risk, long term and illiquid investments. Your capital is at risk. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Target returns are not guaranteed and forward looking statements are illustrative only and must not be relied upon. Investors should only invest on the basis of reading the full offer documentation.