# Contrarian Ventures

> Contrarian Ventures is a founder-first, climate-focused early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2017. We back the boldest climate tech founders at the pre-seed and seed stages — before it's obvious, before it's crowded. We operate as a full-stack climate platform: first cheque, long-term partner, ecosystem builder. Headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, with a pan-European and global investment scope. Fund I: €13M (2017). Fund II: €100M (2022).

## About

- [About Us](https://www.cventures.vc/about-us/): Our story, team, and mission — backing climate tech founders since 2017 with two funds raised and a full-stack platform built for founders to win.
- [Manifesto](https://www.cventures.vc/manifesto/): Our 18-point operating philosophy — founder-first, no bureaucracy, conviction-driven, long-term aligned, and genuinely contrarian.
- [Climate Opportunity & ESG](https://www.cventures.vc/climate-opportunity/): Our ESG integration framework, impact return model, SFDR disclosures, and the UN SDGs we invest behind (primarily SDG 7: Affordable & Clean Energy).

## Funds

- Fund I (2017): €13M. Returned in full via a single investment (Dragon/PVcase).
- Fund II (2022): €100M. Impact-linked return model — portfolio impact KPIs directly tied to fund economics.

## Investment Focus

Contrarian Ventures invests at pre-seed and seed stages in climate tech companies across Europe and beyond. Investment themes include:

- Renewable energy (solar, wind, flexibility, storage)
- Carbon markets and measurement
- Sustainable mobility and EV infrastructure
- Building decarbonisation
- Advanced materials and critical minerals
- AI-powered climate and energy tools

We look for founders with climate and impact in their company's DNA from day one — building breakthrough technology that is economically superior, scalable, and reshaping industries.

## Portfolio

- [Portfolio Overview — Founders Page](https://www.cventures.vc/founders/): Full list of portfolio companies with founder profiles, stage, geography, and mission.

### Active Portfolio

- [Altrove](https://www.altrove.ai/): Designs, synthesizes, and manufactures alternatives to critical materials at scale. Reduces material development time by 90%. France. Partnered at Pre-Seed, 2024.
- [Beebop](https://www.beebop.ai/): Power Orchestration platform integrating residential and commercial assets into wholesale energy markets. Targets 20%+ energy cost savings and 1BN+ tons CO2 reduction yearly. Belgium. Partnered at Seed, 2024.
- [BeZero Carbon](https://bezerocarbon.com/): Independent carbon ratings agency. 650+ carbon projects rated across all sectors including direct air capture, biochar, and regenerative agriculture. UK. Partnered at Seed, 2021.
- [Bees&Bears](https://www.beesandbears.com/): Embedded finance platform for climate hardware — enabling installers to offer customers instalment purchases for solar, storage, heat pumps, and EV chargers. Scaled monthly transaction volumes 50×, secured €500M debt facility, expanding across Germany, Austria, and Europe. Germany. Partnered at Seed, 2025.
- [Cariqa](https://www.cariqa.com/en): EV payments platform for charge point operators — full control over pricing, payments, and compliance. 10,000+ charging points in Germany & Austria. Germany. Partnered at Pre-Seed, 2025.
- [Chooose](https://chooose.today/): Enables aviation and freight customers to build and scale lower carbon fuel programs. Supports 20+ commercial airlines. Norway. Partnered at Seed, 2019.
- [Decade Energy](https://decade.energy/): Connects the commercial EV ecosystem — charging, energy, and finance — to make electrification seamless for fleet operators. 400MW BESS pipeline. France. Partnered at Seed, 2024.
- [Delfos](https://www.delfos.energy/): Uses AI to transform operational data into predictive insights, helping energy operators prevent failures, cut downtime, and maximise asset performance. Reduces downtime by up to 18%. Spain. Partnered at Seed, 2023.
- [Eliq](https://www.eliq.io/): Cloud platform using data and AI to deliver personalised energy insights for utility providers. 2M+ residential customers in Europe. Sweden. Partnered at Series A, 2020.
- [Ember](https://ember.to/): Building the UK's first fully electric, zero-emission coach network with a full-stack platform for public transport. 300+ team. UK. Partnered at Seed, 2022.
- [Fusebox](https://www.fusebox.ee/): Virtual Power Plant technology and Energy Management Systems for large-scale energy flexibility. Active on 3 continents. Estonia. Partnered at Pre-Seed, 2018.
- [H2Pro](https://h2pro.co/): Breakthrough decoupled electrolysis technology for affordable, scalable green hydrogen production. Raised $107M from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Hyundai, and others. Israel. Partnered at Seed, 2019.
- [Hepta](https://heptaai.com/): AI-powered platform for grid fault detection and prioritisation — enables faster repairs, fewer outages, and more resilient energy infrastructure. Up to 90% of defects detected by AI. Estonia. Partnered at Seed, 2019.
- [Inbalance Grid](https://www.inbalancegrid.com/): Intelligent EV charging solutions combining hardware, software, and 24/7 operations into one seamless platform. Lithuania. Partnered at Pre-Seed, 2020.
- [IniOn Software](https://www.inion.lt/): Advanced analytics for solar and wind plant performance optimisation, from rooftop PV to utility-scale assets. Lithuania. Partnered at Seed, 2019.
- [Jumptech](https://jumptech.co/): Installation platform connecting energy companies, installers, and automotive partners. Live in 22 markets globally. UK. Partnered at Seed, 2024.
- [Marvin](https://www.marvin.green/): AI-driven supply chain solutions helping companies comply with sustainability regulations, mitigate risk, and achieve operational excellence. Processes 5BN+ data points. Israel. Partnered at Pre-Seed, 2023.
- [Metafuels](https://www.metafuels.com/): Commercialising breakthrough technology for cost-competitive sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Switzerland. Partnered at Seed, 2023.
- [PVcase](https://pvcase.com/): #1 end-to-end solar development platform — site selection, design, and yield optimization. Trusted by 1,800+ customers in 80+ countries, powering 4 TW+ of solar capacity designed annually. Lithuania. Partnered at Pre-Seed, 2018.
- [SatVu](https://www.satvu.com/): High-resolution thermal data captured from space for sustainability and safety applications. 3.5m infrared resolution. UK. Partnered at Series A, 2022.
- [Starflow](https://www.starflow.com/): Seamless home energy platform combining smart inverters, solar, batteries, and EV chargers. 50% faster installations. Norway. Partnered at Seed, 2025.
- [Sun.store](https://sun.store/): B2B marketplace for solar components with 25+ countries coverage. 1.4 GW of photovoltaic components traded. Poland. Partnered at Seed, 2025.
- [Switchee](https://www.switchee.com/): IoT technology providing real-time data and actionable insights to social housing landlords for energy efficiency and resident wellbeing. 130 social landlords, 40,000+ devices installed. UK. Partnered at Series A, 2018.
- [Urbio](https://www.urbio.earth/): AI platform streamlining district heating network planning, helping cities reduce emissions with efficient, future-ready energy systems. 90% time savings on design and analysis tasks. Switzerland. Partnered at Pre-Seed, 2021.
- [Vianova](https://www.vianova.io/): Leading mobility data platform turning connected vehicle and IoT data into real-time insights for cities. 2M+ monthly trips supervised. France. Partnered at Seed, 2020.
- [Zoomo](https://www.ridezoomo.com/): High-performance light electric vehicles for urban fleets and couriers. Raised $80M+. UK. Partnered at Seed, 2019.

## Exited & Closed Portfolio Companies

- **42watt** (Exited): Helped building owners achieve climate neutrality with fast, fully funded energy solutions. Germany. Partnered at Seed, 2023.
- **Lastmile** (Exited): Smart urban mobility platform. 1,000%+ growth during Covid-19. Estonia. Partnered at Seed, 2019.
- **Moixa** (Exited): Virtual Power Plant managing 25,000+ connected batteries — 235,000 MWh managed globally. UK. Partnered at Series B, 2019.
- **Thrust** (Exited): Intelligent UAV systems for aerial data acquisition. 95% of BVLOS flights in Lithuania. Lithuania. Partnered at Seed, 2018.
- **Voltaware** (Exited): AI-based electricity data intelligence platform specialising in energy disaggregation, predictive maintenance, and energy-saving advice for homes and businesses. UK. Partnered at Seed, 2018.
- **Sterblue** (Closed): AI-powered grid infrastructure inspection platform. 25,000+ grid assets inspected. France. Partnered at Seed, 2018.

## Platform & Ecosystem

- [Platform](https://www.cventures.vc/platform/): Our full-stack founder support platform — events, initiatives, news, and climate tech commentary.
- [Energy Tech Summit](https://energytechsummit.com/buy-tickets/): Europe's largest climate tech event, co-founded by Rokas Peciulaitis. Annual gathering of founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders.
- [Climate50](https://climate50.com/): Annual ranking of the world's leading climate tech investors.
- [The Climate Brick](https://www.climatebrick.com/bricks): A scaling framework for climate ventures from pre-seed to IPO, launched 2024.
- [Substack](https://contrarianventures.substack.com/): Our publication with perspectives on climate tech, venture, and the energy transition.
- [Events Calendar](https://luma.com/contrarianventures?k=c): Upcoming events, webinars, and networking opportunities organised by the Contrarian team.

## For Founders

- [Check the Fit](https://www.cventures.vc/check-the-fit/): Step-by-step application for climate tech founders seeking investment. If you're building in climate and looking for an aligned early-stage partner, start here.

## Team

**General Partners**
- Rokas Peciulaitis — Founder & Managing Partner (Lithuania). Founded Contrarian Ventures in 2017, before climate tech was mainstream. Led first institutional investments in PVcase, BeZero Carbon, and Ember. Co-founded the Energy Tech Summit, Climate50, the Climate Brick, and the At Scale Foundation. Former inflation trader at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Board member of Vilnius University Endowment and Rupert Art Center.
- Tomas Kemtys — General Partner (Lithuania). Leads the full stack of fund operations: LP fundraising, deal sourcing and execution, portfolio support, and founder-focused events across Europe. Led investments in Zoomo, SunStore, and Beebop. Previously six years in investment banking — over $6BN in global transactions — at Centerview Partners, BNP Paribas, and Société Générale (London and New York). Board member of the Lithuanian Venture Capital Association. Studied at ESADE Business School, UC San Diego, and University of Glasgow.
- Thomas Poitrineau — Investor (France). Brings a decade of combined operational and investment experience across European tech ecosystems — including five years in operational roles at Jumia and Onefinestay, four years at Entrepreneurs First backing founders from day zero, and three years at EQT Ventures focused on deep tech and climate. His investment focus spans the technologies defining the next industrial era: closed-loop recycling, critical mineral extraction, chip manufacturing, energy sovereignty, and fusion energy.

**Principals**
- Patrikas Feiferas — Principal (UK, based in London). Joined Contrarian Ventures in 2020, focusing on expanding the firm's presence in the UK and staying closely engaged with portfolio founders. Specialises in distributed energy resources (DERs) — financing, deployment, connectivity, and optimisation — and actively supports portfolio companies including Beebop, Starflow, and Jumptech. Also contributes to key platform initiatives including Climate50 and the Energy Tech Summit. Previously at SEB Bank and Telia; lived in China, Singapore, and Taiwan; speaks fluent Mandarin. BSc in Finance from ISM University of Management and Economics, with studies at Singapore Management University and Shantou University.

**Investment Team**
- Vlad Stoicescu — Investment Analyst (Lithuania)

**Operations**
- Agne Gudonaviciute — Chief of Staff (Lithuania)
- Iohan Dessard — Finance & Operations Manager (Lithuania)
- Ruta Apanavicius — Finance and Operations Analyst (Lithuania)
- Vasare Kamarauskaite — ESG & Impact Analyst (Lithuania)
- Benjaminas Venslovas — Data Scientist (Lithuania)

**Venture Partners**
- Kobi Weinberg (US), Michael Huerta (US), Christopher Brown (US), Bunmi Adekore (US), Steven Meersman (Belgium), Eryk Frontczak (Poland), Marc Wesselink (Netherlands)

## Legal & Compliance

- [Privacy Policy](https://www.cventures.vc/privacy-policy/): Data handling and privacy information.
- [Complaint Handling Policy](https://www.cventures.vc/complaint-handling-policy/): Formal complaints process.
- [SFDR Disclosures](https://www.cventures.vc/sfdr/): Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation documents.
- [LP Login](https://fundrbird.com/login?agent_slug=contrarian-ventures): Secure portal for limited partners.

## Contact

- [Contact](https://www.cventures.vc/contact/): General enquiries and office information.
- Website: https://www.cventures.vc
- Founded: 2017 | Headquarters: Vilnius, Lithuania