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Challenge:
Develop a fundraising strategy for Aepnus Technology, a startup converting waste to raw materials in the battery market using IP-protected electrolysis technology. The goal was to raise $8M in equity financing.
Action:
My method was to support Aepnus with fractional hourly assistance, focusing on the requirements for successful fundraising. We began by establishing the structure for due diligence documents. Upon reviewing the teaser pitch deck, we identified critical gaps and addressed them. Together, we developed: - A comprehensive bottom-up and top-down market size evaluation: - Market analytics for the input and output chemicals, identifying their problems and drivers with financial models - A customer pipeline funnel and approach based on the market size database created - A detailed evaluation of the financial model and projections by testing assumptions against established practices in chemical facilities - An evaluation of the VC portfolio, creating a strategic approach and providing critical introductions that resulted in the closure of lead fundraising
Result:
This project took 6 months at a half time fractional stategic support rate. The end result was a successful close of the $8M equity seed round lead by Clean Energy Ventures. Financial models and quality of due diligence content was a key to success as expressed by Venture Capitalist partners.
https://cleanenergyventures.com/clean-energy-venture-capital/aepnus-8-million-to-electrify-chemical-manufacturing/
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peter-sopher-6b296930_aepnus-technology-raises-8-million-to-electrify-activity-7207051060937453568-vpG2
https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/13/aepnus-wants-to-create-a-circular-economy-for-key-battery-manufacturing-materials/
https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2024/06/13/aepnus-waste-chemical-recycling
" Adri was incredibly helpful in helping me prepare relevant documents for our $8m seed round fundraise. She put together a comprehensive market sizing spreadsheet, quantifying our TAM, SAM and SOM, worked on assembling information on current customers pipeline and helped establish the model that we since use to quantify the amount of mitigated CO2 emissions at various levels of adoption."