Renewable energies and storage, carbon capture, sustainable mobility, agritech, circular economy, waste management and naturetech are the strategic sectors on which NextStep, NextEnergy Group’s VC fund dedicated to the capitalisation and growth of innovative start-ups in the field of sustainability, is focusing its investments in 2025. With a fund of EUR 6.4 million to finance innovative sustainability start-ups, NextStep focuses on high-impact emerging solutions and technologies that accelerate the ecological transition and promote positive change in key sectors.
Two years after its inception, NextStep has closed 17 investments (among the latest, Leafr, Algapelago and Snelix) for a total of EUR 2 million, focusing on pre-seed start-ups. The fund stands out as a VC dedicated exclusively to pre-seed investments in sustainability, and has activities that also extend to the UK and US.
In 2025, NextStep aims to consolidate its presence in the cleantech landscape, with 16 new investments totalling EUR 1.6 million. In addition, scouting processes and calls have been planned, created in partnership with a number of players in the start-up ecosystem, both in Italy and abroad.
With increasing pressure to meet the 2030 sustainability targets and reduce CO2 emissions, the cleantech sector, which has already been growing for several years, is now poised for exponential growth. An analysis by Statista on the distribution of venture capital investments in Europe in 2024 – which saw the cleantech sector attract EUR 1.4 billion in the third quarter – shows that the energy sector received 41 per cent of the total cleantech investments in the third quarter. The agri-tech sector also saw significant growth, with its share of investment rising from 7% in Q2 2024 to 17% in Q3. Falling, but firmly in third place, was the materials and chemicals sector, which saw a drop in investment from 21% in Q2 to 15% in Q3. The environmental resource management, transport, logistics and waste management sectors followed.
“The next ten years offer an extraordinary opportunity for cleantech to define a new economic paradigm, in which innovation and sustainability go hand in hand. Already growing sectors such as renewable energy and storage, carbon capture, sustainable mobility, AgriTech, circular economy and waste management will be flanked by emerging or re-launching sectors such as geoengineering and green hydrogen,” says Claudio Colombo, managing director of NextStep (pictured), in a note.
In Italy, thanks to the Competition Law, the government has launched a series of measures in favour of start-ups and venture capital, aligning itself with European and international models to foster the creation of a structured and attractive ecosystem. These policies provide incentives and tax breaks for private and institutional investors, including international ones. In particular, private individuals who invest in start-ups in the first three years of activity can benefit from an enhanced tax deduction of 65%, which can also be used through instruments such as convertible loans (SAFE), with the important advantage that any bankruptcy no longer entails the loss of the deduction. In addition, Italian pension funds are incentivised to allocate at least 5% of their portfolio annually to venture capital, a measure that offers advantages to both start-ups seeking funding and VC funds in the fundraising phase. “Among the sectors that will drive the cleantech sector in our country, there are definitely renewable energies, thanks to the continuous improvement of existing technologies for the storage of wind, solar, and water energy; but it is the agricultural sector that is the most interesting to monitor: there are already many young start-ups at the forefront of the development of innovative solutions aimed at transforming the way we produce food, from the development of protein alternatives to the implementation of technologies to reduce waste and minimise the environmental impact of crops,” Claudio Colombo.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©