Dear friends
partners and
investors
It is with immense pride, gratitude, and modesty that we announce the first close of our new fund, our most important milestone to date, on our journey to invest in a better built world. This is an important validation of our firm's hard work, progression, and learnings over the last 3.5 years.
To our LPs, our portfolio companies, co-investors, and our team - Thank You - for your continued trust, support, and dedication. Having mission and vision aligned partners in and around our firm is critical to our ability to continue building the leading built world technology firm, and we feel very privileged to be surrounded and supported by all of you.
We remain more humble and dedicated than ever amid an extremely challenging macroeconomic backdrop, sustained and prolonged volatility and the most challenging venture capital fundraising environment since the 2000s . Having lived through a crisis or two historically, we also know that the sun always rises eventually and that it is precisely in these times that category defining, life changing companies are born, backed and built.
The next few years will bring exponential progress, innovation, and adoption at their fastest pace yet; this is more critical than ever before, given the climate, energy and affordability crisis upon us.That’s precisely why we are so optimistic, energised and inspired by our ability to help drive this change forward and be in the right place, at the right time, with the right tools. Our expertise, focus and platform, together with your support, alignment and our combined broader ecosystem, create a unique position from which to capitalise on the opportunities ahead and be a driver for positive change globally.
To our LPs, our portfolio companies, co-investors, and our team - Thank You - for your continued trust, support, and dedication. Having mission and vision aligned partners in and around our firm is critical to our ability to continue building the leading built world technology firm, and we feel very privileged to be surrounded and supported by all of you.
We remain more humble and dedicated than ever amid an extremely challenging macroeconomic backdrop, sustained and prolonged volatility and the most challenging venture capital fundraising environment since the 2000s . Having lived through a crisis or two historically, we also know that the sun always rises eventually and that it is precisely in these times that category defining, life changing companies are born, backed and built.
The next few years will bring exponential progress, innovation, and adoption at their fastest pace yet; this is more critical than ever before, given the climate, energy and affordability crisis upon us.That’s precisely why we are so optimistic, energised and inspired by our ability to help drive this change forward and be in the right place, at the right time, with the right tools. Our expertise, focus and platform, together with your support, alignment and our combined broader ecosystem, create a unique position from which to capitalise on the opportunities ahead and be a driver for positive change globally.
Our generational opportunity
Perfect storm of stakeholders in real estate
To our LPs, our portfolio companies, We have never been more certain, focused, and inspired about the generational opportunity which is upon us. Backing technology that matters and enabling the positive transformation of the built world plays an important role in improving the quality of life for billions globally, accelerating our transition to a sustainable economy, and enabling the decarbonisation of the largest and most polluting industry globally.
When A/O first launched, we had no doubt about the direction the industry was heading in terms of innovation and sustainability. Now, 3.5 years on, the tailwinds are stronger than we could have ever imagined or wished for, with a powerful convergence of regulatory, customer and capital markets pressure, all pushing the industry in the direction of innovation and sustainability. Simply put: the built world is embarking on the single largest industry transition and capex supercycle in the history of the modern world. The companies that we aim to back and support will be vectors for this transition and grow to become some of the most important companies of the next few decades.
An existential threat to the largest industry globally.
The real estate and construction industries are facing unprecedented challenges, from rising interest rates, rampant inflation and regulatory pressure to labour shortages and changing customer behaviour. Technology is now positioned as a mission critical necessity to power the industry forward into the next decades, or else jeopardise the survival and relevance of many of its incumbents, sooner or later.
A looming, intensifying and broadening climate, energy and affordability crisis
Beyond the issues facing the industry head-on, we have entered a period of accelerating climate and energy crises, with annual damages caused by extreme weather events, biblical floods and wildfires reaching $175 billion last year. With annual energy inflation rates exceeding 40% in Europe last year, and global temperatures reaching new heights each summer, the impact of this is being felt by every single person on the planet. This is precisely why enabling the positive transformation of the built world, the largest contributor to CO2 emissions, is the single most tangible way of tackling this climate disaster, while also creating a generational opportunity for those who lead the charge in this transition. The work that we do all day, every day at A/O is front and centre of that generational secular trend, and we are proud to continue leading this effort from Europe with a global strategy.
To our LPs, our portfolio companies, We have never been more certain, focused, and inspired about the generational opportunity which is upon us. Backing technology that matters and enabling the positive transformation of the built world plays an important role in improving the quality of life for billions globally, accelerating our transition to a sustainable economy, and enabling the decarbonisation of the largest and most polluting industry globally.
When A/O first launched, we had no doubt about the direction the industry was heading in terms of innovation and sustainability. Now, 3.5 years on, the tailwinds are stronger than we could have ever imagined or wished for, with a powerful convergence of regulatory, customer and capital markets pressure, all pushing the industry in the direction of innovation and sustainability. Simply put: the built world is embarking on the single largest industry transition and capex supercycle in the history of the modern world. The companies that we aim to back and support will be vectors for this transition and grow to become some of the most important companies of the next few decades.
An existential threat to the largest industry globally.
The real estate and construction industries are facing unprecedented challenges, from rising interest rates, rampant inflation and regulatory pressure to labour shortages and changing customer behaviour. Technology is now positioned as a mission critical necessity to power the industry forward into the next decades, or else jeopardise the survival and relevance of many of its incumbents, sooner or later.
A looming, intensifying and broadening climate, energy and affordability crisis
Beyond the issues facing the industry head-on, we have entered a period of accelerating climate and energy crises, with annual damages caused by extreme weather events, biblical floods and wildfires reaching $175 billion last year. With annual energy inflation rates exceeding 40% in Europe last year, and global temperatures reaching new heights each summer, the impact of this is being felt by every single person on the planet. This is precisely why enabling the positive transformation of the built world, the largest contributor to CO2 emissions, is the single most tangible way of tackling this climate disaster, while also creating a generational opportunity for those who lead the charge in this transition. The work that we do all day, every day at A/O is front and centre of that generational secular trend, and we are proud to continue leading this effort from Europe with a global strategy.
A/O’s journey to date
The changes in market dynamics behind the industry’s transition are not the only changes since we launched a few years back. A/O has grown steadily and thoughtfully from what was a vision laid out on a piece of paper 3.5 years ago, to today:
A growing, purpose built team
13 individuals across investment, research, and data science with a unique diversity of background, experience, gender and ethnicity that has allowed us to remain curious, open minded, embrace differences of opinions always ensuring that we look at opportunities in a complete, non-biased and comprehensive manner.
Backing exceptional talent
We have backed exceptional mission and vision driven entrepreneurs, from late seed to Series B, who care as much as we do about changing the world - including former Global Catastrophe Risk Leaders, National Satellite Directors, former Tesla executives, serial entrepreneurs among others.
A uniquely powerful portfolio
Today, A/O is 24 portfolio companies and growing, employing thousands of people globally, across many countries and continents and tackling the entire lifecycle of the built world from new materials, design, architecture, engineering, construction and building operations.
A broadening deal flow ecosystem
1,000+ new investment opportunities a year assessed, tracked, and benchmarked (thanks to our data team).
A/O as a vector for change and adoption in the industry
With technologies scaled through millions of sqft, thousands of buildings, and hundreds of thousands of residential units within our LP and adoption partner network.
The trust, validation and alignment with our later stage growth peers
With hundreds of millions of € invested in our portfolio companies from the likes of Brookfield, Coatue, Highland Europe, Mubadala, Amazon, Wellington Management and many others.
Going forward
At A/O, we are inspired by the importance, relevance and influence of the opportunity we are trusted to tackle and the impact it can have for the industry and our broader society at large for generations to come. Despite the important milestones and achievements reached so far, we stay humble, focused and determined knowing that nothing should ever be taken for granted. This is still the beginning of a multi-decade journey for our firm and is reflected in the patience, thoughtfulness and care we apply to building our platform every day. We look forward to engaging with each one of you regularly as we embark on this next step in our journey to create a long-lasting partnership, generate outsized returns and do well by doing good by investing in technology that matters in the built world.
Onwards and upwards, always.
Gregory Dewerpe
Founder & CIO
Onwards and upwards, always.
Gregory Dewerpe
Founder & CIO
