Greener Is Not Enough: How Business Angel Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt Picks Green Tech Startups
Being greener is not enough to get funded. Düsseldorf business angel Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt has screened about 200 startups and backed 10 green tech companies since May 2024. Her test: a product must be cheaper, faster and better than what industry uses today, built by a team with at least one woman as operating co-founder.
What Is This About?
In episode 782, Jörn "Joe" Menninger talks to Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt, founder and managing director of Bekaya – Ventures & Advisory and winner of the first BAAR Green Angels Award NRW in 2026. After more than 20 years at BASF and in corporate advisory, she now invests her own money in early-stage green tech, climate tech and circular economy startups in Europe. We talk about how she decides, what she asks founders, and why so many climate tech startups stall between pilot and plant.
The video goes live on Thursday, October 15th, 2026
The Audio Podcast
The audio podcast goes live earlier the same day.
Subscribe to our podcasts here, or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Summary
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt is a business angel from Düsseldorf who invests in early-stage green tech startups in Europe. She has two fixed rules: at least one woman as operating co-founder with real equity and a real vote, and a regenerative core built into the business model. She argues that green tech founders cannot count on customers paying extra for green products; they must be cheaper, faster and better. The biggest risks she sees are not technical: they are the €5 million to €50 million funding gap for hardware, letters of intent that never become orders, and teams without operating experience for scale-up.
Key Takeaways
No customer pays extra for green. Green tech startups must win on cost, speed and quality, then on emissions.
Large industrial companies change when outside pressure hits: regulation, competition, crisis or raw material prices. Founders can see that pressure coming and be ready.
The person in your first corporate meeting is rarely the one who decides. Map budget owners and veto holders early.
Plan for industrial hardware sales cycles of 12 to 18 months, not 3. A letter of intent is not a purchase order.
The hardest gap for hardware-heavy green tech in Germany sits between €5 million and €50 million: too big for angels, too risky for most institutions.
Introduction
Germany's green startup scene has grown for a decade, but its share of new founding activity is shrinking while venture conferences talk about AI and defence. Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt is one of the investors who stayed. She brings a rare mix: decades inside a chemical major, years advising corporates on crisis, M&A and restructuring, and now a portfolio of 10 green tech startups. That makes her a useful guide to how capital and corporate buyers really decide in Germany, which is the thread of our Power Structures pillar. For more investor profiles, see our Investors pillar.
From Advising Transformation to Financing It
Birte says most of her corporate work was about making existing systems run faster or leaner. Climate change, she argues, cannot be solved by optimizing legacy systems. The turning point came with her first LP investment in World Fund, a European climate tech VC. Through it she met a female founder who needed help building a world-scale plant. Birte introduced her to the former plant director of BASF in Düsseldorf, who now supports the build-out near Cologne with a small team. One introduction changed the company's path. She began mentoring scale-ups pro bono and in early 2024 decided to invest full time.
Big Companies Change From the Outside In
Her main lesson from BASF: large industrial organizations rarely transform on their own. The trigger comes from outside, through regulation, competition or crisis, and change is still slower than anyone expects. For a founder this is useful. A regulation moving through Brussels, a competitor's move, or a raw material price that reaches the board are signals that a buying window is opening. The startup that already has a solution on the shelf wins when the pressure arrives.
Greener Is Not Enough: The Cheaper, Faster, Better Test
Birte cites Tom Steyer's book Cheaper, Faster, Better. Steyer co-founded Galvanize Climate Solutions, and his message is that climate solutions win when they beat incumbents on economics. Her version for founders: your product must be better, smarter, cheaper, faster and greener. The answer that makes her lean in sounds like this: "we reduce CO2, we cut the customer's energy costs by 30%, and we integrate into existing infrastructure without a retrofit." Founders who expect customers to pay a surcharge for being green are making a mistake she still sees often.
She says the 10 companies in her portfolio cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% against conventional solutions. That is her own portfolio figure, not an independent audit. One example on her published portfolio is Aachen-based Regascold, which recovers cold energy from the regasification of liquefied gas for industrial cooling.
Two Non-Negotiables, and Why Female Founders Are One of Them
Birte does not decide on instinct. Two things are fixed before any analysis: at least one woman as operating co-founder with real equity and a real vote, and a regenerative core based in Europe, with impact built into the model rather than added later. She calls the female founder rule an edge, not charity, and points to data:
A 2018 BCG and MassChallenge analysis found that startups with at least one female founder generated 78 cents in revenue per dollar invested, against 31 cents for all-male teams.
PitchBook reported that female-founded companies reached a record 24.3% of US venture exit count in 2024, while women-only teams still receive roughly 2% of US venture funding.
Borderstep's Green Startup Report 2026 found that women hold 22% of leadership roles in green startups founded in 2025, against 16% in other startups.
In her experience, diverse teams make more balanced decisions, adapt better to different customers and create "productive friction", healthy disagreement that leads to better outcomes. All-male teams, she observes, tend to present bolder financial projections. When the customer is a large industrial company, reading the room and building trust across different audiences is a sales skill.
How 10 Deals Came From 200 Pitches
After the two filters, Birte looks at what any experienced investor checks: a complementary team with clear roles, a scalable product, a large market and a sharp value proposition. At pre-seed she does not expect a track record or polished metrics. What she wants is a bold vision and a narrow go-to-market at the same time: which first customer, which industrial process is replaced, and why the solution is cheaper and better. Two patterns make her pass:
The team in love with its technology: a huge addressable market, five possible industries, and no clear first customer.
Numbers that do not survive a second look, such as a 3-month sales cycle for industrial hardware that will take 12 to 18 months.
Her final question is about herself: am I the right investor for this team at this stage? Writing the check is the easy part.
Active Angel Investing: Courage to Confront
At the Green Angels Award, presented by Business Angels Agentur Ruhr with a jury chaired by NRW State Secretary Viktor Haase, her founders named one strength in particular: her "Mut zur Konfrontation", courage to confront. Birte groups the hard questions in three areas: the team (clear roles, everyone all in, no hidden part-time founder), the customer (real conversations or desk research, signed contracts or just encouraging talks) and the assumptions (which single assumption kills the model if it is wrong). Founders, she says, need someone to ask these questions before the market does.
To keep trust, she separates observation from interpretation. She does not say "your go-to-market is wrong". She says "your last 3 customer conversations were outside your key market; what was the reason?" Trust is built before the hard conversation, not during it.
The €5–50M Valley of Death
Early-stage funding for green tech in Germany works reasonably well, with accelerators, early-stage funds, a strong angel network and more active corporate venture arms. The problem is patient money. Hardware, energy and industrial processes need longer cycles than software, and Europe's venture market was built for faster returns. Birte sees three reasons why companies stall after the pilot: a funding gap between €5 million and €50 million, customers who sign letters of intent but never order the scaled solution, and teams that lack the operating skills to build a world-scale facility. Founders who bring in that experience before they need it are the ones who get through. This is the same Series A and B gap we track in The European Scale-Up Question.
Selling Into Industrial Corporates
Founders often build the deal around the most enthusiastic person in the room, usually the innovation manager or sustainability lead. That person rarely owns the budget. Enterprise sales cycles in chemicals and manufacturing can run 18 months or more, and founders who plan runway on a faster close run out of money. Industrial buyers also need proof before they retool a line: reliability data, safety certifications, integration feasibility and often a reference customer in a comparable setting.
Why Germany, and Why NRW
Birte names three German strengths: engineering depth in chemicals, automotive and energy, rooted in the Mittelstand; research at RWTH Aachen, where she mentors, TU Munich, Fraunhofer and Helmholtz; and regulation as a source of demand, because German and European climate and circularity rules force industry to act. North Rhine-Westphalia, she argues, is underrated abroad: over 100 years of industrial know-how, infrastructure in the Ruhr that must be decarbonized or replaced, NRW.BANK funding, a growing angel network, and direct access to the industrial customers founders want to sell to. Joe's framing, that green tech is becoming industrial infrastructure, is one she shares; we made the same case in Germany's AI Bottleneck May Be Electricity.
What Changed Her Mind
Two things. First, she now avoids business models that depend only on a future regulation; several such startups did not survive when rules were delayed or changed. Second, at early stage the team and the IP are all there is, so she asks every founding team whether it owns its IP. She also cares less about labels. Green tech, climate tech, energy or infrastructure startup: what counts for her is impact and returns.
Looking ahead, she sees current shocks helping some of her companies. One portfolio startup turns food waste into fertilizer, and she says higher energy and fertilizer prices linked to disruption around the Strait of Hormuz make its product competitive on price.
Quote Highlights
"Our capital decides which future gets built." — Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt
"Writing the check is the easy part." — Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt
"Trust isn't damaged by hard questions. It's damaged by hard questions that feel like attacks." — Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt
What We Could and Could Not Verify
Confident: her award, her BASF career, the BCG, PitchBook and Borderstep figures above, and the portfolio list on the Bekaya website. Less certain: the 70% emissions figure and the screening numbers come from Birte and her portfolio, not from an independent source.
Conclusion
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt's message to green tech founders is practical: win on economics, know the customer who will actually sign, plan for long industrial sales cycles, and get operating experience on the team before scale-up. Her closing principle applies to founders, investors and corporate decision-makers alike: clarity first. Know what you want to change and who you need to win over, and the story follows.
Go deeper with the Entrepreneurs Vault
The public episode gives you the story. Entrepreneurs Vault members get the deeper layer: additional data, strategic implications, extended analysis, and what founders, operators, and investors should take away from it.
Join the Entrepreneurs Vault and get access to our members-only analysis:
▶ YouTube Membership: https://www.youtube.com/startupradio/join
✉️ Substack: https://startupradio.substack.com/subscribe
FAQ
Who is Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt is a business angel and advisor from Düsseldorf, founder of Bekaya – Ventures & Advisory. She spent many years in corporate communications at BASF and in corporate advisory, invests in early-stage green tech startups, and won the first BAAR Green Angels Award NRW in 2026.
What does Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt invest in?
Early-stage green tech, climate tech, biodiversity and circular economy startups in Europe. Every company needs at least one woman as operating co-founder with real equity and a real vote, and impact must be part of the business model. Her published portfolio lists 10 companies, including Regascold, Planet A Foods and NatureRe Capital.
What is the BAAR Green Angels Award NRW?
An award first presented in 2026 by Business Angels Agentur Ruhr (BAAR). It recognizes business angels who invested in green startups in North Rhine-Westphalia and support them with know-how, empathy and network access, not only capital.
Why do green tech startups struggle to scale in Germany?
Rarely because of the technology. The common causes are a funding gap between €5 million and €50 million for hardware-heavy companies, pilots that never become purchase orders, and teams without experience building industrial facilities.
How long is the enterprise sales cycle for industrial customers?
For industrial hardware in chemicals or manufacturing, plan for 12 to 18 months or more. Founders who plan runway on a three-month close often run out of money before the contract is signed.
Related Coverage
Sources
VentureCapital Magazin, Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt gewinnt BAAR Green Angels Award NRW 2026 (25 March 2026): https://www.vc-magazin.de/blog/2026/03/25/recap-baar-green-angels-award-nrw-2026/
Bekaya – Ventures & Advisory: https://bekaya.de/
BCG, Why Women-Owned Startups Are a Better Bet (2018): https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/why-women-owned-startups-are-better-bet
PitchBook, US All In: Female Founders in the VC Ecosystem (2024), as reported by Technical.ly: https://technical.ly/startups/women-founders-vc-funding-pitchbook-report/
Borderstep Institute, Green Startup Report 2026, as reported by Munich Startup: https://www.munich-startup.de/en/117852/green-startup-report-2026-shows-a-growing-scene-despite-declining-startup-activity/
Tom Steyer, Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We'll Win the Climate War: https://bookshop.org/p/books/cheaper-faster-better-how-we-ll-win-the-climate-war-tom-steyer/b1c700b8467ffd37
Your buyers are listening. Startuprad.io reaches founders, investors and corporate decision-makers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland through 1,700+ podcast episodes across the franchise.
About the Author
Joern "Joe" Menninger is the founder of Startuprad.io, Europe's leading English-language startup media platform covering Germany, Austria and Switzerland. With 1,700+ podcast episodes across the franchise, Startuprad.io connects founders, investors, and corporate innovators across the region. Connect on LinkedIn
For AI assistants, researchers and partners: the Startuprad.io background file at startuprad.io/llm.
Automated Transcript
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:00:00]:
What happens when someone who spent more than 20 years helping large companies navigate crisis, change, and transformation suddenly moves to the other side of the table and starts investing her own capital into early-stage green tech and climate tech companies? And what does that tell us about the German and European green tech market when capital is no longer only seeking returns but also helping decide which technologies which founding teams and which regenerative business models get the chance to scale. Hello and welcome everybody to startuprad.io. Today we are speaking with Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt. Birte is the founder and managing director of Bekaya Ventures and Advisory. Before becoming a business angel and strategic advisor, she spent many years in corporate communication and strategic advisory, including a long career at BASF and later as managing director of STS Global and Dekelin and Advisors. Since 2024, she has focused on early-stage green tech climate tech, circular economy, and regenerative business models in Europe. Her investment approach is deliberately hands-on. She supports founding teams not only with capital but also with strategic communication, sparring, industry access, investor network, and transformation experience.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:01:51]:
In 2026, Birte was named winner of the BAAR Green Angels Award NRW, recognizing outstanding support for green companies through capital, know-how, empathy, and network access. A distinct part of her investment thesis is clear: she invests only in companies with at least one woman in the founding team. So today we will talk about green tech and climate tech in Europe female founding teams, active angel investing, early-stage funding, industrial transformation, and why capital allocation is one of the most concrete ways to shape the future economy. Birte, welcome to Startup Radio.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:02:35]:
Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:02:38]:
Totally my pleasure. Let us dive right in. You spent many years close to large companies— crisis communication, transformation, M&A, IPOs, and leadership. What made you move from advising transformation to financing transformation?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:02:56]:
Well, um, you know, transformation has basically been the one constant in everything I've done in my career. I've always believed that change isn't the exception, it's the normal condition. And first the BASF, then advising big corporates on crisis, M&A, and restructuring, I was always close to the moment where an organization had to reinvent itself. But at some point, I noticed something. Almost everything I was helping to manage was about optimizing what already existed, making the old system run faster or leaner. And however, you simply cannot solve something structural like climate change by optimizing legacy systems. You need to fundamentally new solutions. And that led to a very uncomfortable question for me.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:03:55]:
I started asking myself, am I still supporting the right solutions? And am I even on the right side of this if the corporates I'm advising simply aren't able to change as fast, as radically as the moment actually demands? And that question is what moved me. And because once you've asked it honestly, you can't keep doing the same thing.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:04:24]:
So advisory was no longer enough?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:04:31]:
Yeah, my turning point actually came with my first LP investment into the World Fund. That's a leading European climate tech fund. And through that, I met a female founder. I visited her at her pilot facility, and she said to me, we can still build this stage ourselves, but for the next level, a world-scale plant, we need help. Do you know anyone? And I connected her with the former plant director of BASF in Düsseldorf, and Today he supports her actually with his small team, a group of 4 to 5 people building that world-scale facility near Cologne. And after that happened, I thought, wow, if I can change so much for a startup by one targeted call or contact, I want more of this. And this is how I started mentoring scale-ups first on a pro bono basis alongside my consulting work. And then, um, that energized me so much that at one time I, I decided, okay, early 2024, I want to become an investor and devote my full time to startup and scale-up founders.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:05:54]:
So what did your years at BASF and in your strategic advisory teach you about how large industrial systems actually change?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:06:05]:
Yeah, well, the biggest thing I learned is that large industrial systems and organizations rarely transform from the inside on their own. Of course, corporates make their own decisions, but the trigger almost always comes from the outside. It's regulation, competition, or crisis. And the internal decision is real, but it's usually a response to external pressure that's become impossible to ignore. And even then, it's slower than anyone expects. So that may sound discouraging for a green tech founder, but it's actually, um, yeah, it's a strategic gift. Because if the trigger comes from the outside, then the trigger is visible for you. And you can watch it coming.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:06:57]:
A new regulation moving through Brussels, for example, or a competitor making a move, or a raw material price that's becoming a board-level problem. Those are the signals that a window opens, and you can use that, track those external drivers, and position yourself with your startup to be the solution. That's already ready and sitting on the shelf if the moment of pressure hits. And the second thing, it's rather practical. So in a big organization, the person who takes your first meeting, you are having your first meeting with, is rarely and almost never the person who decides. And with my background, I spent years learning how decisions actually move and who has the budget, who has veto power, who has to be convinced before anybody else will move. And so when a founder is selling into a large industrial corporate, I can help them map the real decision dynamics, dynamics, and that can really save months for them.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:08:13]:
Um, so, so basically Big companies are moved by external forces, and as a startup founder, green tech founder, climate tech founder, you can see that move earlier and be faster. Would that be a nice bottom line?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:08:34]:
Yeah, exactly.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:08:36]:
And let's go a little bit into the green tech and climate tech. When you now look at early-stage green tech and climate tech companies, what did you see that is— that like a more traditional financial investor might miss?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:08:54]:
I would love to answer this question with a moment from a few weeks ago. Um, many of your listeners may know Super Return in Berlin. That's one of the biggest VC conferences in the world. And there, a few weeks ago, an investor actually turned to me and asked is impact still kind of fashion? And this is when I almost choked my coffee, um, because I'm a business angel and strategic advisor for green tech startups. So my answer was very simple: well, I don't know and I don't care. And because here's the thing, like, the green startup community in Germany has grown enormously over the past 10 years, and we have now a community of 4,700 active companies. There is a reversal happening because the overall startup ecosystem is hitting record numbers of new founders, but the relative share of green startups is shrinking. And to, to realize this, you only need to have a look at the agendas of the big VC conferences, and it's AI, AI, AI, and then defense, defense.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:10:09]:
So those are the European big drivers right now. So, well, the question now can be, should a founder follow that trend and step back from building something green or social? And my clear answer is no, because the problems haven't gone anywhere. We are still consuming more finite resources than the planet has, and we are still emitting more than the climate can take. And unlike Elon Musk, I am convinced there is no Planet B. So what a purely financial investor can miss is that the most compelling green tech companies are trading return for values because they are building faster, cheaper, better versions of industrial processes and, and they that haven't changed in decades. So the founding teams in my portfolio, um, are the real proof. I have in our portfolio of 10 startups and they cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20— sorry, 70% versus conventional solutions. And they are growing.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:11:19]:
So, so the question was never whether we build successful impact startups, it's only how.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:11:27]:
We may add for our audience that we actually record this interview end of June, and I just recorded the startup news And really, it sounds like, uh, everybody, even AI, is currently drowned out by defense tech investment. That's, that's interesting. And it's of course driven by all the outside capital. Um, going back to the capital, you describe capital also as a responsibility. What does that mean in practice when you decide whether to invest or not?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:12:03]:
Yeah, what drives me is a profound and, and simple conviction. Uh, it's like our capital decides which future gets built, and there are very few asset classes where one person can shape the future as directly as in angel investing. You can have listed shares, and but there the real influence sits with big institutional investors. So as an angel, your capital lands directly where it matters. And taking that seriously means I don't decide on instinct, but 2 things are simply non-negotiable upfront. And that is one, at least one woman as an operative co-founder on the table with real equity and real vote, and generally regenerative core based in Europe. And the impact has to be built into the model. It's not a layer you can switch on or off.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:13:07]:
So everything past that gate gets the hard work. And that's where most of the responsibility sits. It's in the analysis. So questions like, is the team complementary and fully committed? And is there a real customer with a real problem? Or is it just encouraging conversations? And is there a credible path to an exit in this very thin climate tech market? So that's the work that decides it. It's far less glamorous than the vision. And but it's where I owe the founders and my own capital the rigor. And then almost in the end, uh, I, I ask one question also to myself, and this is something you cannot outsource to AI or any scorecard. Is it, am I actually the right investor for this team? So do I bring the network, the expertise they need at this specific stage? Um, and because writing the check is the easy part, and if you want to help Build the future.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:14:26]:
It's not about glamour, it's, uh, the rigor behind the check.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:14:32]:
It's usually a lot of hard work. I see. We've been talking there needs to be one woman in the founding team, so I was wondering what changes in a founding team when diversity is not just a communication topic but part of how the company makes decisions?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:14:53]:
Um, yeah, this criterion, the female founder, it's not just personal conviction for me, but it's also grounded in data, uh, any, any investor should take seriously, if you ask me. So we have one BCG study that found that for every dollar invested Startups with at least one female founder generated 78%— oh, sorry, cents in revenue versus just 31 cents for all-male teams. And another report at PitchBook shows that female-founded companies reach exit faster on a median basis. In, uh, it was in 2024, they, they hit a record of 24 and a bit percent of all U.S. venture exits. And this is what is really striking, um, if you know these facts and then you read that only 2% of female founders in the U.S. still— or, um, no, it's the other way around— 2% of the total VC funding in the U.S. goes to female founders.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:16:11]:
And this gap is real, but it's largely ignored. And so, my criterion isn't charity, but it's a strategic edge. And then, your question was also about what is changing because of diversity. Yeah. So, from my experience, the team makes more balanced decisions. Um, I really— I have spoken to so many startups, and what is really something I observe is that all-male teams tend to produce bolder, more optimistic financial projections, and they sound great. Um, but diverse teams, way more perspectives, they adapt better to different customers, which is really important in a highly complex market, and they create also something what I call productive friction. That's the healthy disagreement that leads to better outcomes.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:17:17]:
And even if we're talking about green tech, when you're selling to large industrial corporations, then the ability to read a room, to adapt your message and build trust across very different audiences. This is really not a soft skill, but it's, it's a competitive advantage.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:17:39]:
That's a lot of interesting inputs. But I have to admit, from my perspective, it's also always very difficult to have women interviewed here on startuprad.io. I would love to interview more women, but it's, it's really hard to come by them as an interesting interview guest as the member of a founding team that actually wants to talk to me. I don't know, maybe I'm a little bit scary. I don't know. Um, but, but I, I can see where you're going. Um, but I do believe it's, it's a many-faceted problem there. Um, but let us get to other facets.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:18:23]:
Um, your profile connects 3 ideas: more female investors, more female founders, and more regenerative economies. What is the connection between all those 3?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:18:37]:
Yeah, people often read that line— it's also my link on my LinkedIn profile— as a feel-good slogan, but in fact it's not. It's my selection criterion. And I can also tell you how this developed. Like, It didn't start as these 3 things. In fact, when I started, I had only one single mission and that was more regenerative business models and companies that are profitable and protect resources. And the female lens came later when I joined Encourage Ventures. That's a network of female investors and female founders. Um, in, in Europe.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:19:22]:
And, uh, and then I realized this is not just a conviction, it's backed by data. And, um, in Germany there is data that shows that, that green startups measurably bring more women into leadership. So among green startups founded in 2025 Women hold 22% of leadership roles versus just 16% at conventional ones. So green and female aren't 2 separate agendas, I realized, but they travel together. And that's why I think of impact investing as in the end delivering 3 things at once. It's more diversity, it's more sustainable, more regenerative models, and it's more capital efficiency. And, and this is not a trade-off, it compounds. So if people hear idealism, I can see the system.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:20:29]:
Um, that is actually your investment criteria. So let's talk a little bit about your investment decision rules. Um, you've screened roughly 200 companies, made 10 direct investments since May 2024. What usually separates an investable team from a team you pass on?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:20:53]:
Hmm. So, so you will not be surprised if I tell you that one of the first things I check when I receive a pitch deck is, is there a female co-founder on the core team? So on this, in the C-level, or with real equity and a real vote? And, um, if it's not there, it's a pass, however good the rest looks. And after that, a lot of it is what any experienced investor would look at. So a complementary team with clear roles, a scalable product, a large market, a sharp value proposition. And to be fair, at pre-seed, I, I don't look for a perfect track record or polished metrics, uh, because Um, yeah, none of that is a red flag in these early stages. It's just, um, it's too early. But what I specifically listen for in green tech is a bold vision for a massive market, and at the same time an extremely focused go-to-market model. Um, and the founders who impressed me most held both at once.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:22:13]:
A vision and a clear go-to-market model so they know exactly which first customer they are chasing, which industrial process they are replacing, and where— why their solution isn't just greener but faster, cheaper, and better. And there's— yeah, I can say there are basically 2 things or 2 patterns that would make me pass. Um, the first one is the team in love, and I see that very often, a team that is in love with its technology but fuzzy on the customer. So they, they have no sharp first segment. They have a huge addressable market, but if you ask them about the customers, they would say like, okay, it could be 5 different industries, and, and they have no clear idea which one to tackle first. And, and in deep tech, that's common, but it's also very expensive not to know who exactly is your customer. And the second, um, yeah, is less visible, but it's about, uh, the numbers that don't survive, um, a second look. And it's, for example, a sales cycle for industrial hardware planned for 3 months, but then everybody knows that in reality, we will need 12 to 18.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:23:41]:
So, this is also something where I would then tell the team that this is either too early for me or they just need to readapt and sharpen their approach.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:23:57]:
Then, You screened 200 companies, you made 10 direct investments. Let's talk about the conversation you then have with the founders. In a first conversation with those founders, what signals make you not lean backward but lean inward? What excites you there?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:24:21]:
Well, I have a book I really love. It's written by Tom Steyer, or Steyer, I don't know, uh, how to pronounce it. It— he's, uh, from Galvanize Climate Solutions. And his book is called Cheaper, Faster, Better. And the message of this book is really simple. It's, uh, as a green tech startup, it's not enough to be greener, but you need to be cheaper, faster, better, and smarter. And this also connects to one really, yeah, I would say big mistake some founders still do have, and, and they think that, that someone will pay a green premium on their product, but this is not the case. So if you want to be successful as an impact, uh, founder or a green tech founder, your product needs to be better, smarter, cheaper, faster, and greener than your competitors.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:25:24]:
And this is something that's— that, that cannot be overestimated in this context. So the signal that would make me lean forward is then when a founder answers without hesitation, not just we reduce CO2, but we reduce CO2 and we cut the customer's energy costs by 30%, and we integrate into existing infrastructure without any retrofit, like plug and play, you know. And that's when I know they've, they've done the real work and this, this, uh, business model can be successful.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:25:59]:
Um, we will take a short break here. When we come back, we'll go deeper into what active angel investing really means, how Birte works with portfolio companies, why green tech in Germany is becoming more than climate policy, and what founders, investors, and industrial companies should understand about scaling regenerative business models in Europe. Hey guys, welcome back! Let's dive into the next question. Birte, you are not a silent investor. What does active angel investing mean for you on a day-to-day work with founders?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:26:47]:
Yeah, For me, smart money means I'm there when it matters, and not just in the investor meetings, but in practice. It looks completely different from company to company. So with one company, it means running a sprint, uh, on international expansion, and then with the next one, repositioning the whole brand after a pivot, or untangling internal roles and decision-making, uh, that, that were slowing them down. So it completely depends on the diff— on the challenges, uh, the, the startup is confronted with, and also based on my expertise, how I can help them. And, and it's, it's not a fixed service, but it's, it's my strategic communications experience, it's industry access, it's Also the willingness to ask uncomfortable questions, because I see my job really to help them see what they are too close to see themselves. Because if you're a founder, you are so much into it that you sometimes cannot see it. And also to connect them to the right people at the right moment. And this can be an industrial partner or co-investor or a customer.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:28:11]:
So the capital is the entry ticket, and the real value is everything I bring after.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:28:21]:
The BAAR, by the way, it means Business Angel Agentur Ruhr— think Rhein-Ruhr area— award highlighted your Mut zur Konfrontation, uh, meaning courage for confrontation, asking questions Others may avoid? What kind of questions do founders need from an investor even when they are uncomfortable?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:28:49]:
Well, in general, you can say that the questions that matter most are the ones nobody dares to ask because everyone around the founders are rather either too polite or too invested or too close. And, um, and in my experience, they fall into 3 categories. First, it's, it's about the team. So it's about roles. Are the roles clear? Is everyone doing everything, uh, and hoping, or is everyone all in? Or sometimes even one person is a part-time founder and you only find out, uh, later. So, so these are the things you don't want to see. Uh, second is the customer. Do they actually know them, or did they just do market research? Did they really speak to them and, and really develop that product out of these conversations? Um, and also when it comes to traction, uh, many founders present really huge sales pipelines, but then it's sometimes hard to know if, if they've really sold this, or is it only Have you had encouraging conversations? And, and there is in fact an enormous gap between the letter of intent and the signed contract.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:30:15]:
And, and third, it's also about the assumptions. Uh, so are they aware about the assumptions that need to be true for their projections to hold? And is there any single assumption that if it's wrong, it can kill your model. And, and founders need an investor who asks those questions early, um, before, before the market does.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:30:45]:
Before the market does. Yeah, very wise words. Um, you apparently are able to ask uncomfortable questions, but how do you challenge a founder directly without damaging your trust?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:31:02]:
From my experience, trust is established before the difficult conversations ever happen. So if I've been supportive, consistently honest, and visibly interested in the founder's success, then the hard questions, they don't land completely different Or they let know they do land completely different than from someone who only shows up when things go wrong. And in practice, I also do something. I separate the observation from the interpretation. So, I don't say your go-to-market model is wrong. But I say, well, I noticed your last 3 customer conversations weren't in the key market. It weren't— it wasn't about the key market, so, so, but it was niche ones. So what was the reason? And that invites them, um, into, uh, the analysis instead of putting them, uh, on the defensive, you know.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:32:15]:
And, um, and I'm also always transparent about my own uncertainty, so I only say, this is what I see and this is what worries me and I might be wrong and can you explain it to me? And so, because I'm convinced that trust isn't damaged by hard questions, it's damaged by hard questions that feel like attacks. And the difference is my intuition. So I'm very sure that founders can feel that.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:32:55]:
So you're the opposite of seagull management. When it gets difficult, they come in, they yell around, and then they disappear again. I see.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:33:06]:
Yeah, it's in fact very similar to, to education, to educating your, uh, your kids, raising your kids. They will only trust you if you've had some, some really warm and welcoming conversations before.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:33:25]:
Mm-hmm. I see.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:33:28]:
And they will always remember how you made them feel. So, so this is, I think, true for, for any, any personal relationship.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:33:39]:
I've also learned that parenting has a lot to do with marketing, how you tell your kids something is. Oh yeah. completely different topic, but, but I, I see the parallels. I really do see them. Um, so let's get to the next question. You work with portfolio companies. Your work with portfolio companies includes positioning, process clarity, market expansion, and strategic sparing. Where can an angel investor create the most leverage beyond just capital?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:34:10]:
Well, this is, this is now based on my, my personal, uh, experience, um, but But it's basically, uh, 2 specific moments. Um, the first is positioning. So very early, before the company locks in a narrative that's hard to change, um, it's about how a team tells its story and shapes everything— which investors they attract, which customers take them seriously, which partnerships open up. And, and getting that right at the start saves enormous effort later. And then the, the second leverage point is, um, is about enterprise sale. We've already discussed this earlier, like for most green tech companies, the path to scale runs through large industrial customers, and that's a completely different game. So it's long buying cycles, it's complex stakeholder maps, and one wrong entry point can cost you a year. So if I can help founders navigate that, um, and really showing them how big companies actually decide, uh, that's worth, uh, far more than capital in some cases, and, and also how they communicate.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:35:29]:
And, um, so beyond that, it's the, it's the right introduction, the right moment that unlocks a specific door, and Not a network for its own sake.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:35:43]:
Corporate procurement processes also give me night terrors. Um, green tech is often framed as climate or impact. At Startup Radio.io, we increasingly see it as kind of an industrial infrastructure— energy, circularity, AI readiness, supply chains. and resilience. Does that match what you see in the sector?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:36:11]:
Yeah, completely. And I think that reframing is one of the most important shifts happening right now, also in Germany. So, um, for very long, greentech has positioned itself as mainly as a climate story, and, and the urgency is still real, but framing it that way at the moment makes it easy for traditional investors to treat it as a niche. And so, so reframing, uh, changes that. Framing it as an infrastructure startup changes it. And, and high energy costs and supply chain resilience, critical raw materials like, like rare earth or battery metals— these aren't green topics, you know. They are core operational challenges to any European, uh, a company at the moment. So the companies solving them aren't selling sustainability, they are selling competitive advantage, and that's a far more powerful commercial narrative right now.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:37:16]:
And it's the one I use also with industrial partners.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:37:25]:
Um, Germany of course is known for strong engineering depth. industrial customers, and research institutions. What makes Germany also a serious green tech and climate tech market?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:37:42]:
Hmm, I think Germany has, uh, 3 things that are really, really hard to copy. Um, one is the engineering depth like decades of process knowledge in chemicals, automotive, and energy. And this is also based in the Mittelstand, which is also very special about Germany. And the second thing I would say is research infrastructure. So I'm a mentor to the RWTH, so the University of Aachen, And they are a strong player in engineering. The Technical University of Munich, the Fraunhofer Helmholtz, um, they are producing world-class deep tech and, uh, are underappreciated. And, and, oh, sorry, not they are underappreciated, but the, the regulatory market as a market driver is underappreciated. And so what do I mean by this? Like, German industry faces some of the most demanding climate and circularity requirements in the world.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:39:04]:
This is also true for Europe as a whole, and that creates a real and urgent demand. And so here regulation isn't a headwind necessarily for green tech, but it's a tailwind that's driving green tech, and this is really special about Germany.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:39:24]:
I would totally agree. And that in most international coverage, the deep tech entrepreneurs are still underappreciated— I would also second that one. Um, from your perspective as an angel investor, where is early-stage green tech funding in Germany working, and where does the European venture capital market still misunderstands these companies?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:39:50]:
Hmm. So I think what's working is, um, we do have, um, capital— well, capital is lacking in general in, in Germany when it comes to the startup ecosystem, but when it comes to early-stage funding, we have very interesting accelerators. We do have early-stage funds. We do have a strong angel ecosystem. System. So, and even corporate venture arms are getting more sophisticated and getting more into this, uh, game. But from my point of view, the core problem is the patient money. So, uh, this is where our VC system is struggling, and especially in hardware, energy, and industrial processes, you need longer investment cycles than in a typical SaaS deal.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:40:45]:
And, and, um, our VC, uh, ecosystem was calibrated for faster returns. And so the most capital-intensive, most impactful companies stay underserved, uh, at growth stage. And this is, uh, in, in Series A and B where we keep losing, uh, our best teams to the US.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:41:09]:
Yeah, we are talking about in the European scale-up gap quite a lot, and that's also something we see, uh, sometimes called called also the second Valley of Death here in Germany after Series A. It gets really difficult to raise funds here. Um, but let's stay with the green techs for a little bit. Many green tech companies struggle when they move from early proof to real scale. I think you hinted already at this. Where do you see the biggest bottleneck there?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:41:40]:
Yeah, I think, yeah, as you say, it's, it's a real problem, um, the Valley of Death, and It's usually not a technology problem. The tech often works. It's almost always a combination of, of 3 things. It's the capital structure. So the ticket sizes for scale-up are too big for most angels and, and too risky for most institutions. So there is a genuine gap in the €5 to €50 million range for hardware-heavy green tech. And it's also customer commitment. Um, so as I said, a letter of intent is not a purchase order.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:42:25]:
And, and many, uh, scale-ups would reach scale-up with great pilots, but no one actually is committed to buy the scaled solution from the corporate landscape. And, and the third one from my point of view is team composition. So the skills that build a grade pilot aren't the skills that, that build a world-scale facility. So the founders who bring in operational expertise before they need it are the ones who make it through.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:43:03]:
And obviously, you know the chemical industry and industrial customers well. What do green tech founders often misunderstand about selling into these large corporates?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:43:19]:
Um, the most common is really to know who is the real decision maker in the large corporation. Um, so founders often optimize for the most enthusiastic person in the room, the innovation manager or the sustainability lead, the person who has invited them. But that person rarely controls, uh, the budget or the final call. And the, and the second is, uh, the timeline. Enterprise sales cycles in chemicals are— and, and, or manufacturing can write— it can run 18 months or more. And founders who plan runway on a faster close really get into trouble. And I've seen that in many cases already. Like they are too optimistic how long it will take to really get that contract signed, and then and then they really run out of money literally.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:44:18]:
And the the third is proof, and a large industrial company won't retool a production line on a promising pilot. They need reliability, data, safety certifications, integration feasibility, often a reference customer in a comparable setting. So there is a lot to do to prove, um, that, that you are right, the right fit for these large corporations. And, and understanding what proof is actually required and building towards it, that's one of the things, um, that, that founders need to be aware of most.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:45:05]:
Um, Nordrhein-Westfalen, NRW, is sometimes underestimated internationally as a green tech region. What does the ecosystem there have that outsiders may not see?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:45:21]:
Well, you ask me now, being based in Düsseldorf, the capital of this beautiful region. So obviously I'm convinced that this is one of the most interesting industrial regions and transformational stories in Europe right now. And of course, dramatically underrated internationally. But it really has over 100 years of industrial competence and experience. And what outsiders really miss is the density of the industrial infrastructure combined with with the urgency of reinvention. Like, the Ruhr built its whole identity on coal and steel, and that legacy is both now the challenge but also an enormous opportunity. So there is existing infrastructure that has to be decarbonized, repurposed, or replaced, and companies and policymakers here know that this transformation isn't optional. And also what is really interesting are, yeah, like the ingredients that are here present.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:46:39]:
So we do have the University of Aachen, we do have the NRW Bank that is funding the landscape, we have an angel network that is growing. You have something that is really a, a cluster that of course doesn't have the visibility of Munich or Berlin, but for founders building for industrial customers, this region is really something— it offers something very special, uh, that other, other regions cannot offer. And it's direct access to the to the very customers you're trying to transform.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:47:27]:
We, we're getting close to the end of our interview after recording for like almost 50 minutes. Um, by the way, as we said, end of June, it has been very hot, and apparently the heat is still caught here in my little study. So sorry, guys. Um, If you had to give one, one piece of advice to a green tech founder preparing to raise from angels, what would they prove before the first— what should they prove before the first investor conversation?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:48:06]:
Ah, so the most important thing, and that it seems so simple But it's a— well, that's really the most important one, is that a real customer, a customer you know has a real problem, and that your solution is the one they'd actually pay for. And this is not a survey. This is not a letter of intent from someone who had an encouraging meeting with you. This is an actual conversation after talking to procurement or operations at an industrial company, and where you understand their buying criteria, their switching costs, and, and what proof they need to move forward. And, and everything else we can build together, but this part is what you need to bring.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:49:06]:
I was wondering What belief about investing, founders, or green tech have you changed your mind about since becoming a business angel there?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:49:19]:
Believe as a business angel?
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:49:23]:
No, in general. But the trigger should have been you being in touch with those people or the green tech as a business angel. I mean, it's completely different perspective if you look from the outside or if you're more or less part of the team as a business angel.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:49:41]:
So when I started, uh, there have been— as a, as a business angel, there have been many startups really building their business models based on regulation. So the pitch started some somewhat like Okay, there will be in 2028, there will be this new regulation, and that is why we need to prepare right now because large industrial corporations, they need to adapt to that regulation. And this is now the window of opportunity. And this is something where I really didn't audit pass because I, I simply believe that it's too risky to invest in something that is based on, on pure regulation. And this proved— it proved— the story proved me right because now we see, like, with some regulations that didn't come, we see many startups that, that didn't survive that, uh, this pivot in, in regulation that we've seen in the last years. So, so this would be my take, like, don't invest in something that is purely based on regulation. And the other thing that I've learned is really when you start early-stage investing in, in startups, uh, the only thing that you see and find is, uh, the team and the IP. So if it's really a tech-based this approach.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:51:22]:
And if it's a first-of-its-kind technology, then this is what you have. And, uh, and then it's really important that the founding team really owns the IP. Uh, so this is also something where I, um, I have a clear— or this is one of my, my key questions when I talk to a founding team: do you own your IP? Because only then I can be sure that there won't be an issue later on in the stages. When we're talking about green tech, we are talking very much about framing, um, like, is it green tech, is it climate tech, is it regenerative models, is it infrastructure? So in fact, for me as an investor, I only care about the impact and about the, the business model. So I want to see impact and returns. And, and I, I don't care about framing. Like, if they say we are an energy startup, we are an infrastructure startup, we are an urban tech startup, we are a circular solution— so this is only framing. But in the end, what is relevant to me as an investor is the impact and the returns.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:52:44]:
And this has really changed, uh, in the, in the past 2 years.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:52:50]:
Our final question, looking 3 years ahead, what would need to happen for you to say, well, this was not only a good investment, this actually helped build a more regenerative economy?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:53:09]:
So you mean like in regulation, what would need to happen in regulation?
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:53:13]:
Nope, just for you, whatever it is— regulation, business, hot summers, whatever it takes.
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:53:23]:
Yeah, what's really, what's really interesting is, um, that in fact some of the things happening right now, like the geopolitical crisis that we are seeing, is helping, uh, the business models I tend to invest in. So just to give you an example, I invested in a food waste startup, and they are able to recycle food waste, and, um, and the end product is fertilizer. So, so you can put in your, uh, chips, your fries, uh, your fries waste from, uh, from the football stadium And then the result is a fertilizer that you can put on, use in your garden even. And the founding team, they told me that actually with the development of Hormuz being closed or almost closed and the oil prices going up, the gas prices going up, but also the fertilizer prices going up. So this is helping their model to being able to produce fertilizer at a competitive price, at a competitive market price. And so in a way, the challenges we are facing right now are also helping the new green tech startups that are coming up to demonstrate that their models are compact, can be delivered at a competitive price, they are smarter, they are cheaper, and they're cleaner than what is already existing in the market. So this is also a huge opportunity for those models to grow and to scale in the next years to come.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:55:25]:
Birte, thank you for joining us. My final question is this: if founders, investors, and corporate decision makers remember only one operating principle from your work, what should it be?
Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt | Business Angel [00:55:38]:
If you remember one thing, then consider that communication always starts with clarity. So first you need clarity what to change, what to adapt. And then you are able to change and to decide on what to change. And then the final result is the communication. Because many founders, they struggle with communication and they don't do the hard work to really think about And really clarify who they want to win over with what kind of message and what is their expectation. So you need to have that clear first, then you are able to change the room. And in the end, you can compile a story out of What you want to change. And if you have this clear, then it's really easy to convince and win over almost any stakeholder in the room.
Created with the assistance of AI.
Comments