In today’s episode, Andreas and Jeppe sit down with Petr Mikovec, Managing Director and Chairman of Inven Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of CEZ Group. They discuss how Inven Capital operates with a unique dual-funding structure in collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB), blending corporate strategy with financial investment goals.
Inven Capital, which manages €500M and focuses on climate tech and sustainability, provides insights into how corporate investors can balance strategic objectives with financial returns.
Together, we explore:
How Inven Capital’s structure supports strategic and financial goals through its partnership with CEZ Group and the European Investment Bank.
The role of systemic coaching in venture investing and how it fosters stronger relationships with founders and teams.
Challenges and advantages of corporate venture capital models compared to traditional VC firms.
Strategies for effective board participation and aligning stakeholders for company growth.
How Inven Capital manages partnerships and exits when working with competitors in the energy sector.
Watch it here or add it to your episodes on Apple or Spotify 🎧 chapters for easy navigation available on the Spotify/Apple episode.
✍️ Show notes
A look at the person behind – Petr Míkovec
Petr is the father of two kids (15 and 17 years old), who was lucky to meet his wife Lenka 27 years ago, who took him on a personal development journey …
Originally very ambitious entrepreneur and investment banker who in 1990+ wanted to concur the world driven by the freedoms gained after the velvet revolution … driven by life lessons transforming into a person who sees value in people and long-term relationships (in both life and business)
Realised how important it is to understand my “first team” (our family of origin) to be able to understand our hidden localities and patterns that drive our decision, and we don’t know why …
People follow the meaning, and so does profit …
Influenced by Yuval Harari to understand the history of humankind, Viktor Frank who helped me find the “Men’s search for meaning”, Simon Sinek to always start with WHY, always falling in love with the problem, not solution of Uri Levine (founder of WAZE), be aware of the black-Swan flying around (positive and negative) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Jane Gooddall helping me always to find reasons for HOPE…
Core principles that guided your strategy in corporate venturing
Make sure that the Culture of your “loving mother doesn’t eat you for breakfast.”
Build a divers culture/value set to engage and retain the most talented professionals from around the world.
Build trust among the VC/startup community, and be transparent about how you make decisions and what your value adds.
Remind yourself that startup/vc business is people’s business and focus on creating alignment among all shareholders.
Embrace ”Art” of conducting VC business through systemic coaching while perfecting the “know-how” of doing it.
Differentiate through concepts that “increase chances of success of the startups to make a real big impact” out there.
What key factors make a startup stand out to Inven Capital?
They start with WHY, followed by HOW and WHAT, both validating the WHY.
Diverse founders teams/entrepreneurs where one “can make it” and “one can sell it” with a history of “big failure” from which they learned is a big advantage, who fall in love with the problem (not solutions) driven by inner motivation = we called them Soal of winners.
Smart/strong investors in the cap-table, small boards with high-added value professionals / co-creating what we call Constellation for Success.
Product Market Fit in place backed by revenues and healthy unit economics on a sizable growing market.
How do you balance the interests of various stakeholders in your investment decisions?
It is simple: we decide at INVEN among investment professionals (we have full delegation right from both LPs, who are only checking if we are in line with the overall investment strategy.
We have a consensus-driven culture; all investment professionals have to support the deal
From 1 pager, we move to on-site interview ( 1-n and 1-1) (2 people who run the deal and two who are not engaged with the startup to keep maximum objectivity), then approval of the “deal alert” and TS (term sheet) followed by due diligence (legal, financial, tech, team profiling) with “Strategic/alignment Worksop” conducted together in person with existing and future investors, founders and management … to create value and align around the priorities, enabling for very fast execution once transaction closed and money received.
We close deals in 6-8 weeks after signing TS.
Biggest challenges in scaling up Inven Capital's operations.
Make sure that our teams stay and grow both personally and professionally within the INVEN culture
Making sure that each investment professional delivers “INVEN service” of the highest possible value with a different flavour for the startup
Embracing ”Art” of conducting VC business while perfecting the know-how of doing it
Learning every day that VC business is a people’s business and adjusting our approach to
Finding and implementing concepts that increases chances of success of the startups and differentiate INVEN from the crowd out there
Staying disciplined and loyal to our values even though others out there do it differently.
What trends are you most excited about?
According to McKinsey predictions, There is a massive opportunity – in order to decarbonize till 2050, 9.2 trillion USD / per year needed to: a) grow RES from 250 GWe to 1000 GWe (4x) b) increase hydrogen production from 90mt to 530mt (6x), c) increased battery demand from 0.2 TWh to 14 TWh (70x) and d) CO2 capture from 40mt to 7600mt (190x)
Sustainability became a business opportunity: waste heat recycling (2xbetter cost), recycled molecules (2-3x better costs), Recycled food grade plastics (1x price parity), zero-emission nitrogen fertilizers (2x better costs), carbon negative construction materials (100x better costs) …
Scaling is a main challenge:
Mature = renewables (wind and solar) 4-7x.
Early adoption 5-120x (batteries, electric vehicles, advanced biofuels, decentral energy, and smart buildings).
Demonstrated at industrial scale 30-160x (Pyrolysis, waste gasification, hybrid foods, advanced bio-materials), Pre-commercial 17-150x (Fusion energy, electric aviation, direct air capture)
What changes or expansions might we expect in the coming years?
Inven needs to adopt its investment strategy due to the following challenges of the VUCA world:
Shifting sentiments: Citizens question if the energy transition targets are achievable and affordable, and societal support is decreasing significantly
High interest rates: thinner margins – the threat of shifting capital to higher return projects given the challenging macro-economic environment
Falling power and capture prices: record high prices in 2022 (e.g., 235 EUR/MWh in Germany) going down rapidly in 2023 (e.g, 65 EUR/MWh)
Grid network inadequacy: higher penetration of RES coupled with delayed grid build-out and lacking regional steering mechanism – leading to curtailment
Access to skilled labor: substantial demand for skilled labor in the renewable energy sector (for example, 150k skilled workers needed for grid expansion in Europe by 2035
Other constraints: land – some shortage depending on country and technology; supply chain: trade restrictions & geopolitical tensions impact availability and cost; Regulatory: lengthy approvals and complex regulation cause delays
We are looking for founders/min with Relational Intelligence, allowing them to build resilient business models that go far beyond the board room, engaging with all key stakeholders.
Advice for young people in the industry
Don’t follow smart advice. Listen carefully, though, but follow your heart …
Sometimes, we need to slow down, get a better understanding of who we really are (what really drives us), and look back (check our first team – family) so we can move forward much faster and make the right decisions
If the wrong outcome of our decision appears, logic says – more data and analyses are needed, and that is what we do … but sometimes, specifically in a situation of wrong/flowed assumptions, more data does not help …we need to master the areas outside of our rational brain to find solutions to our problems
Think of a paradigm of the world you want to build and go for it
Yes, there is a crack in everything, but that’s how the light gets in (Leonard Cohen); it's not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. It is this hope, above all, that gives us strength to live and to continually try new things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now.
Most counterintuitive learning
Even the most conservative corporation mitigating risks could give birth to a VC business embracing the risk … You need to fix the HOW well (how to function next to a conservative mother) and combine the best from both worlds.
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