E529 | Fabian Heilemann, AENU: A New Era of Climate Tech VC

This week, August Solliv is joined by Fabian Heilemann, founding partner at AENU, a climate-focused Article 9 fund reshaping what institutional-grade impact investing looks like in Europe.A former serial entrepreneur turned VC heavyweight, Fabian spent nearly a decade at Earlybird before launching AENU alongside his brother. Today, he leads a €170M early-stage climate tech fund with one clear mission: backing ventures that can decarbonize at gigaton scale.In this episode, we dive into Fabian’s journey from angel investor missteps to system-level innovation, and what it takes to truly build an impact-native VC platform—beyond surface-level ESG.We talk about why the old fund structures don’t cut it for deep tech and climate moonshots, what real accountability looks like for impact metrics, and why mission-aligned founders are starting to demand more than just capital.🎯 This Episode’s ThemesWhy Fabian walked away from generalist VC to go all-in on climateThe hard truths of raising an evergreen fund in a bear marketWhat it takes to measure impact—beyond the marketing slideHow AENU’s founders “walk the talk” in company operationsWhy biodiversity collapse may hit harder than climateHere’s what’s covered:00:45 | Meet Fabian: From founder to Earlybird GP to climate VC03:30 | When the science became too loud to ignore06:00 | Early mistakes in angel investing—and how it shaped AENU08:45 | Building AENU: Clean slate, pure play, Article 912:00 | Impact metrics that matter: CO₂e saved or removed15:30 | Walking the talk: Travel policy, green ops & founder integrity18:45 | Challenging the 10-year VC fund model22:30 | Why climate tech exits need more patient capital26:00 | The failed evergreen experiment—and what it taught them30:00 | Climate vs. biodiversity: The next systemic wave33:30 | Why Sequoia won’t fix this—but emerging managers might36:15 | Founder redemptions: Building for impact after fast commerce40:00 | The reality of fundraising as an impact-first VC43:00 | AENU’s three pillars: Energy, decarb & climate adaptation