Investors Go All-In on Iberia’s Cleantech Boom | Suma Capital

Leon Urban: Iberia is currently becoming one of the most important regions in Europe's clean industrial transition. World class renewables, a strong industrial base and real pressure to decarbonize. But turning that into bankable repeatable projects is still the hard part. What's blocking scale, what would actually fix it and what Iberia could become if it executes well. My guest is Natalia Ruf Zeith, managing partner at SC Net Zero Ventures. They just closed last September. 210 million fund to back industrial decarbonization scale ups across Europe. Natalia, welcome to Net Zero.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Thank you Leon, very happy.

Leon Urban: Nice to be here in Madrid uh with you at your office. And let's start speaking a bit in general about Iberia. I just read the clean tech for Iberia report that you were also working on and maybe you can give us a short briefing about the actual situation, some key facts.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yeah, sure. Iberia uh, I mean we are quite happy because Iberia is ah becoming a growing ecosystem. You know since the late during the past year we have seen a lot of increasing volume of investment. And uh, Last year in 2025 Iberia talking about cleantech investment reached a ah, record never seen before. More or less 800 million invested more than 80, 80% higher than the year before. So a very good success. But it's true that if we analyze and deep in the numbers it's true that the capital is concentrated in two or three big operations. For example Multiverse, nearly 200 million has composed also what the company for a ways to value. So we need bigger most deals and more bigger capital.

Leon Urban: Like more numbers of deals as well.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yes, more number of deals is true and also most of the deals are still concentrated in early stage. So clearly there is a gap of uh, bigger deals, more money, more for scale. And this is the typical gap that is in all across Europe. But in Spain I think is uh, still more, more accurate is this kind

Leon Urban: of gap ah, can you give us a frame or comparison to peers in Germany and France to understand how big right now the venture market is in Spain?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yeah, I mean every is growing, is mature, it's maturing. But it's true that in comparison with other neighborhood countries, for example France or Germany or the European countries is lag clearly behind in I mean Germany more or less the clean tech ecosystem is more than um, 2000 million. So clearly Iberia is still need to improve quite a lot. And in France we can see similar features. I mean in Iberia in the next five years we need more than 30 billion to catch up with the rest of the Countries.

Leon Urban: That's a lot.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yes, it's a lot. But, but ah, it's true that we must be proud of this kind of number reach in 2025. But there is a lot of work ahead to reach the numbers of the network the rest of the European countries.

Leon Urban: You said that Iberia has all it takes to become a clean industrial powerhouse. So maybe you can explain what Iberia is generally good at in clean tech and where the real strength are in. At Iberia.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yeah, I mean Iberia will have a clear advantage and the advantage is the renewable, strong renewable resources. The wind, the sun is clear. And advantage not only for the tourism. We can build an industrial ecosystem and a lot of industrial power around these two natural resources. And um, this means um, cheap electricity prices and it means a lot for industry also we have a very good talent, I mean a lot of good engineering universities, college, I mean and this I will say that we have the best talent with the best prices. And so it's very important because we see a lot of companies abroad that the cost of the labor costs uh, are so high that it's impossible that these companies could reach profitability. And if you have a company and you decided to install in Spain, open a facility, you are going to find very cheap electricity prices and the cheap labor cost. And then also there are a lot of government support. I mean there are a lot of, a lot of different regions in spine that are very keen and very um, supportive this kind of clean tech. Um, so, so I think it's a very good moment and a very good opportunity for the rest of European clean tech companies to uh, think about uh, opening a facility in Spain.

Leon Urban: So what are the problems or uh, the main difficulties for companies to yeah, maybe first open a company here to start a startup and then secondly to scale the projects and the company.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: The scale is the most challenging problem. No, I mean it's very difficult. Uh, there are in Europe, even in Spain for Iberia for sure and also in Europe there are a lot of very good early stage companies. But when you try to find these companies, see the progress of these companies, uh, and to see how these companies are going to scale really is very difficult to see good execution in scaling. Especially in these kind of companies that are very caps intensive, need a lot of resources, pass from the good pilot results to a first of a kind facility is a huge step. And a few, few companies in Europe can face these stage. You know, for, for, for developing technology. You, you need a lot of time, you need passing for a lot of stages and now as in the cleantech we need to pass very fast for these stages. Normally in the old way or the typical way of developing technology, you have clearly very defined stages and very uh. To. You have to double the scale little by little. But now as we are in a hurry because you. You must decarbonize the industries and we don't have enough time. We have to go through a big step in scales. So that means a lot of uh, risk and that means a lot of money for sure.

Leon Urban: It's very capital intensive to scale clean tech companies. I think this is the biggest difference to software companies where it's more easy to scale fast with less capital. As you said, you always have first of a kind in investments. It's hard to get bankability for these projects. But I think one of the solution to. To get the money to um. The late stage is. Is your own form. Yeah. See Net Zero Venture. So maybe we can talk more about your approach and how your form is. Is helping the whole industry to. Yeah to scale to accelerate. Last year you closed at well you closed at 210 million for. It's a. It's a big number. Maybe it's not big enough to close all the gap that is missing in a late stage. But tell us more about um, your form. What is the goal and the investment approach.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yeah, um. Net Zero Ventures belong to the platform. A platform from Summa Capital. Summa Capital is a Spanish asset manager more or less 1.2 billion under management. Several strategies from the very early stage venture capital to the infra funds. But all the summa Capital, all the investments goes around the sustainability investment. And it's something that the company Summa Capital have built since the beginning and have maintained very close to this approach. So all the strategies only invest in sustainable investment. Summa decided to enter in the venture capital because for sure the company's mass growing only with the venture capital. And then once the companies will be prepared this kind of infra funds to take the following steps. So it's very important to understand the company since the beginning. This venture capital strategy is a very good complement to the best of strategies of Summa. Net Zero Ventures was born in the 20202023 as an agreement with Revsol. You know, uh. Revsol is a multi energy multi energy company that had been very. With a lot of different tools for innovation. I would say is one of the Spanish company at least that more that faces the innovation with very different from. From the own research or add to final funds or venture capital. But the company rebsol decided to split out a little bit the strategy and maintain the corporate venturing division for invest in very strategic align with the current business for rebsol in the more early stage and trying to push ah. Bigger companies more mature companies with a uh. Final fund strategy. Promoting a final fund strategy and for that reason made this strategic agreement with Summa Capital is was the net zero Ventus was born. And I would say it was not easy because you know in Spain now we we. We. We find that uh. There are a lot of public money because uh. It's true that we find a lot of. A lot of support from the. From the government and from Europe from the um. European investment bank that are promoting this this this these funds to to scale. Especially the European investment fund now is promoting bigger funds because it's up to three years ago the biggest fund in Spain for Clinted was the 300 million fund. They are not there were not bigger funds. So if the European investment fund is promoting bigger and bigger funds trying to concentrate the money to invest in the indictment. But there are not so many private fund private money to match with the public. So that is the problem we are facing the old ecosystem to try to push this kind of private money that is really or uh willing to invest in industrial companies in technology in big tech. And it's not so many many people because it just you know this I think in Iberia most of the family office and a lot of uh. Pension funds insurance uh company refer to other kind of businesses of real estate because they are I will say uh. Risk at bestian. Most of them only give a very small small percentage to invest in inventor capital.

Leon Urban: Yes I can imagine. But have you seen a switch in investment approach also among peers here ah in Spain. So it's not only Summa Capital but also other venture funds that are more pivoting into the uh. Clean tech area on this clean tech sector.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yes we have seen also a huge evolution in that sense. Five years ago there were no funds specializing climatech and now we will say there are quite a quite a few for invested in early estate but also in late stage growth. And yeah and more and more we read in the in some big announce of huge um funds like multi multiventors and also sea they are launching funds one one billion fund. This is completely new in Spain to invest in the tech climate tech in Europe. So it's good news that the ecosystem is moving and also it's very important that now for this kind of uh. If you examine it a little bit this who Were the investor to this kind of deals that have been in Iberia in last year. It's good to see also investor for other parts of Europe. Uh, for now up to now there were very few in very Spanish deals you can find in external investor outside of Iberia Spain. But now a lot of European funds for example are opening offices in Madrid because Spain is becoming an interesting place to sourcing.

Leon Urban: And what is the main reason for this? Why is Spain gaining so much interest?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Uh, I mean is um, as we have been talking before is a very good place for this kind of climatic companies. And we also not only see venture funds, also a lot of companies that are settling in Spain, but also in Spain you can see you can find deals with a very lower valuation than in other parts of Europe. And uh, I mean I think now we have changed a little bit now in the venture capital. Some years ago everybody was talking about unicorns and now we are changing a little bit. What means to be a unicorn? For me it's better to grow little by little with profitability until obviously growing and growing but without trying to only grow, grow, grow um, without any profitability. And I think in Spain we are conscious of that and there are more and more companies that are performing in that sense.

Leon Urban: This is interesting. What would you say are there most important KPIs that you also look at when you analyze a company? Because yeah, as you said maybe for a clean tech company that uh, is still in a project, in a pilot project phase or maybe yes investing in the first and big scale project, they don't have the revenue. Maybe a software company at this stage would have maybe uh, neither the revenue growth. So where are you focus focusing at when you analyze companies and investment targets?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: I will say I would like to be clear milestones. For example, you are have a pilot pilot, you are in pilot stale. How are you going to reach the first of a kind? What are your technical risk? What are you going to finance this step? And I would like to see a clear and true path to reach that. And it's also very important to see the team is clearly a mask very deep assets of the team because uh, especially if the team has the scale up abilities because you know in many companies, early stage companies, the technical team is very very strong. Normally in Spain we can see Iberia in general a lot of strong technical teams. But once the company start to scale up in most cases the company needs another other profiles and these kind of profiles, these uh, difficult to find execution, execution and execution. And it's clear that you have a

Leon Urban: lot of experience in this field. You were working at, at Repsol also in the corporate venture side. Um, yeah, before Summa Capital was, was built out of Repsol. So what exactly would you say is helpful helpful from your own background right now? Um, at Summa Capital, what would you say are your biggest trends?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yeah, I mean I have been working in the energy sector for all my professional career. I started as a process engineer in one of the um, um, refineries of the Repsol Group in the north of Spain. Uh, and then I work in other roles in the company more in the planification strategic businesses and so on and during the last 10 years in innovation. So I think having this um, this path of starting from the industrial, very industrial engineering role.

Leon Urban: Process engineering.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Process engineering? Yes, yes, yes, process engineering. And then I, I perform you know, the other roles more, more in the strategic. Give me a strong view of what that means. For example scaling. And it's, it's, it's very important to understand how this kind of industrial assets work. How does this means developing technology. I've been also several years in the research center of Revsol where there are a bunch of scientists developing, developing and co developing technologies with other research centers, universities. So having been very, very close to this kind of profiles, give me a lot of knowledge about how to. What are the m. Risk, what are the milestones needed for to scale technology. And it's very important. Um, you know when, when you go and you speak with a company it's very important to. Because many, many companies say no, I have now a pilot scale and in three years I want to have four or five commercial plans. That's, that is impossible. You need to, to as, as, as, as founder, as investor, you have to build credibility and you have to, to show a clear path to growth. And it's clearly very difficult because you know the most important thing that these kind of projects are not bankable how this. Because for sure this kind of first of a kind needs a mixture of equity the bank support. But it's clearly very difficult that the bank at this stage support these kind of projects. There are several banks in uh, Iberia and Iberia that are working quite hard trying to be very close to this kind of company. Hydrogen companies and storage, the most developed developed verticals of Iberia, ah, fintech topics. But it's true that it's not so it is difficult and we have to find the mechanism. We know all the theory but we have to find the right mechanism because you know now that is true. That is the there are not premium for the clientech solution. So you have to build a solution with the same price of the old style of working. For example, in the case of hydrogen is the green hydrogen is a mass to decarbonize a lot of industries. But for now there is clearly a gap between the gray hydrogen with the green one. So who is going to support this gap? In some regions, for example in Germany, there is uh, a mechanism that try to cover this gap. And this is clear a very good mechanism to try to support and try to give comfort to this kind of company. In the same way we financed the renewables one years ago. And now the renewables they have been increasing a lot and um, more or less in Iberia or 70% of the electricity is from renewables in a short period of time.

Leon Urban: That's a huge number.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yes, but it's because of the huge support of, of the, of the, of this kind of mechanism, uh, in the last 10 years. Yeah, yeah.

Leon Urban: I mean on the one hand for sure the mechanism mechanisms are uh, important, but also the public funding. Right? I mean and it's up to 15 billions per year in additional public and private funding to reach their own net zero goals. So how do you see the world of, of public founding? How important is it and how is public funding working right now? Is it really. I mean the money is there. We just, we just touched it. I mean from the European for this, there's a lot of money going, going to Spain. But can you see the money or do you see the money being invested in a, in a way where these companies need investments?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: I think the public support is good. I will say it's good. There are a lot of um, money from different Spanish government, different administration. It's true. That is in many cases there are three or four pockets. Not very with different rules. So it's a little bit complicated navigating in the system because it's public funding demands different things. So it would be great to have harmonized all this kind of public money because there are the ZT organism and then is the uh, ICO and then is the Z. So a lot of different and also cofides. So it's quite difficult to know exactly what will be the right pocket to demand support. Also I think in the European terms there are quite a lot of support for the European Innovation Fund for this kind of clean tech, um, technologies, especially from countries like Spain and Portugal.

Leon Urban: So if the money is there, where the real bottlenecks right now for stealing? I mean you already talked a little Bit about it but frame it and

Natalia Ruf Zeith: the money is there for the private but you know you have to match once time more you have to match with private money. So there are not so many funds especially focus on hardware and capex intensive uh industries especially with these uh. Companies are quite far for being profitable because it's very difficult to finance these kind of hardware companies with a venture capital system. Venture capital system was created a uh lot of years ago supporting and helping software companies with the KPR were quite clear and the growth is clear and is there for supporting this kind of capex intensive the money must be quite passionate because you know for developing the technology probably from the very beginning to the scale up growth the company in many cases takes more than 10 years. And the venture capital has its very defined terms. I mean normally It's a uh. 10 years fund 5 for investment far high for this investment. So it's very difficult to find fix this kind of fixed term for finance. These kind of companies more and more they are. There are more people talking about these kind of either green funds that could help these companies to growth with more passion capital. For example in the. The. In many cases the early stage companies are being supported by corporations because you know there are a lot of energy corporations in Europe making a very good job supporting companies especially in the. In the early phases. And this kind of corporation has more passion capital. Yeah. And um. A big problem also is the liquidity because there are a lot most of the funds and the corporation now has a lot of companies in portfolio and it's quite difficult to find some of them good exits. For this company. For example, the corporation has a lot of companies and they are now more focusing in trying to find these exits that investing in new companies. M Because the. The capital has been stuck in Europe during the last year. It's difficult to see good M and A M exits. I think the market is becoming in better better position now that the. The financials start working better. But it's true that during the last year we've found a lot of difficulty

Leon Urban: to exit especially in the clean tech sector.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yeah, yeah. Because uh. You know it's difficult. It's difficult. So until we can see clear exit paths is the capital is going to be a little bit struggling to to find this kind of clean tech investment.

Leon Urban: And apart from the money problem where would you see other bottlenecks here in Spain? Is there some mechanisms, some sites from something from the political side or maybe from the infrastructure that is still missing to really accelerate?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: I mean the political side for These kind of companies is very important to have a regulatory base that is stable. M and trying to find the places that the regulations are stable is clearly very very important. And it's not the case in m many countries. We are now living in a very I would say difficult geopolitical situation and this kind of changing norms from the United States also in Europe so is difficult for is another stone for this climate change. Now Europe is very focused on resilience in trying to secure energy, secure defense and is a good environment for build an industry around this kind of challenge. So I think we are in a good moment to start building a strong ecosystem in Europe. I would like to see more money flowing from different countries of Europe because normally the money from the north, that is uh, quite a lot of money in the north of Europe are stay in the north and the south monies stays in the south. No, I would like to see more for example Scandinavian companies investing in Spain or more German company, um companies from Germany investing in Spain. That would mean a uh, good European ecosystem flowing.

Leon Urban: And why was it not happening the last year? So what is the reason why it's still so difficult for the different venture funds to invest in different markets so far away from, from their own markets?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: I mean, I mean the venture capital or in general the money seems to be very local and, and you trust venture capital is a lot about trust and you perhaps trust more in your, in your local companies. But I think it's changing and now we are and also European European administrations are trying to harmonize all these kind of administrative requirements to invest in Europe and with the all trying to have all the companies in Europe the same low. And it will be wonderful because this is starting to build an ecosystem in terms of Europe. And it's true. But for scaling, for example, you can have a wonderful company in Spain and you need to scale the company to France, Germany and once you go to another countries the rule are completely different. So it's not so evident for a Spanish company to set up uh, a new facility in Germany and start working um, there. There are. You need uh, to know in general very, very well the rules of this kind of country. Normally the, for example in the electricity market they are completely different. So it's not so evident.

Leon Urban: That's true.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: And, and the proof is that many companies that starts in their own countries and then when they go to another country is a completely failure.

Leon Urban: I mean this is a lost opportunity in Europe. Yes, we have such a huge market. We have the capital, we have the talent, we have all it takes to, to be successful and to. To get it moving and accelerating. So this is yes a huge problem still but as you mentioned we are seeing actually right now that as well the venture capital is moving more to different markets. And you mentioned that more international venture capital funds are coming to Madrid. So there are movements, right?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yeah, I think there are movements are good movements. We as uh, Net Zero Ventures um find look for deals in all around Europe and also in the North America.

Leon Urban: So you're not concentrating at Iberia?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: No, no, no we we will invest more or less a third in Iberia and then the rest all around Europe and also we can invest in North America if this kind of companies want to open business in Europe.

Leon Urban: So, so North American companies that are

Natalia Ruf Zeith: expanding to yes, expanding to Europe because we, we, we try to help the companies to scale and we think that we need to be quite close to that companies.

Leon Urban: What will be a normal investment size and how many deals are you planning to make with the 200 million m?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: We're going to invest in more or less 15 up to 20 companies because our initial tickets are from 5 to 10 million with the possibility to raise the companies up to 20 million. Yeah, try to diversify a little bit because we, we are focusing decarbonization carbonise the mobility the industry, the energy. So with this uh, clear focus we are also trying to lever leverage a little bit between these kind of three verticals and also trying to diversify a little bit with these capex. Capex companies with other companies that are more has the ability to grow a little bit faster because it's true that you can don't put all the eggs in this kind of capex intensive companies because otherwise it's difficult to find the numbers.

Leon Urban: And when you invest in a company what would you say for to founder for example what is the biggest advantage for founder to have you as a partner on their board?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: I mean we have um, a good knowledge of the energy sector and this uh, I would say we have the ability to speak with the founders in the same language in the same technical language that is important to understand the needs and the technology and then we are very well connected with these energy companies all around Europe because we have been working in the space for a lot of years trying to help the company and also for us it's important we have helped the companies in the ESG policies in the impact in the KPIs because we are Net Zero Ventures, we are an Article 9 impact fund. So trying also to, to, to understand that the companies Understand that it's very important this kind of procedures to also all these um compliance procedures and so on prepare the company for the next stage. Because the next steps will be a growth fund or will be an infra fund. And this kind of um. Good proper way to build a company is very important. Try to find the right profiles and only help them to grow the team and grow the company safe and um. With a uh. Clear organizational view.

Leon Urban: You mentioned the three sectors that you're going to concentrate on. But is there one technology or one field where you're most excited about for the future? Something where you would say well this technology I'm. I'm really optimistic and really bullish on

Natalia Ruf Zeith: uh.iu More in Genoa in general we try to cover um. Different different sectors but but in I will say that in Iberia there are growing ecosystem around storage. The kind of solutions for this kind of uh. Renewable trying to. To work with this kind of renewable energy. The systems in general are all. Are not prepared to work in the 247 with this kind of renewable. Not this kind of solution that help us to. To. To take profit of this kind of renewable energy will be for sure our in our focus. Uh. In the first place of focus up to now we have invested in a company developing membranes for separate hydrogen for other gases. It's two sites that is a. Is a very good example for example that a foreigner investor have bet in this kind of company. In that case breakthrough energy is the main investor. And also there are good corporations like Equinor NG and um. UM ourselves. So also with the support of nrs it's a clear example that money for other parts of Europe are coming to Spain. We have also invested in grids because uh. You know for us it's very important that in that kind of solutions to accommodate this renewable energy to be incorporated in the grids. And in general grids needs a lot of solutions. It's a good topic. And yeah we have also invested in a Spanish company for manufacture um chargers that is a residential charger and they are doing great um because you know we have seen during the last year a very good increase in electrical mobility that it was clear. Spain and Iberia in general has a clear gap in comparison with other European countries. So good improvement there and also ah. Well supported for some government. We wouldn't have governmental support in that case. The moves program and um programs that help people to finance the board of these kind of electrical cars has been a very good way to push the numbers in Spain.

Leon Urban: We already talked about the Bottlenecks what has to be fixed. And I saw in the LinkedIn post from you that you said 2026 this year is going to be decisive if yeah. Iberia is going to grow to, to grow and to. Yeah. To figure out if you can actually reach the goals. Where can Iberia be if everything or if the bottlenecks bottlenecks will be fixed and if you really accelerate, if the money yeah. Is Is um, filling the late stage gap. Could you draw a picture of Iberia in 10 years if everything works out the perfect way?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: I would like Iberia could be a key place in Europe to start um clean tech company. I will say that the easy ways to enter in Spain, I mean good administrative um facilities or administration facilities in terms of start building a company. That is a must that these kind of companies come to Spain. I will, I will see um, a good advance in decarbonization. I would like to see for example how the companies have uh been able to decarbonize heat and um, how the green hydrogens has entered in the industries and how for example the renewable energy could be fixed um to this kind of storage and that is a clear demand for this kind of renewable energy. So I will see a place that all these kind of technologies we have been developing now could be at the scale phase ready to be commercial and more and um, more European money coming to Spain to invest with.

Leon Urban: Can Madrid um get a startup hub like Berlin or maybe Paris. Do you see the potential here?

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yes, clearly I see a huge potential in Spain traditionally have been two big ecosystem that is Madrid, Barcelona and now it's good to see also another places for example Valencia and also the Basque country having and building a strong ecosystem in many cases supported with um, the local governments that in many cases supports a lot giving a lot of facilities to, to start business there. But also um, net of investor that are doing things good, attracting more and more capital to spend.

Leon Urban: Interesting. So we're coming to an end. So my last question would be how startups can reach out to you and what is something they need to have done before reaching out to you. Maybe.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Yeah, I mean I will like to have a lot of uh proposals. I encourage the founders that don't hesitate to send me the proposal because in many cases I would like to see the companies or know the companies since the very beginning. For sure there are a lot of companies that will not be in the point to invest because we demand a little bit of development. I would like to know the funder since the very beginning to track them their progress and it's the best way to find if the company is performing well. For example now we are analyzing a French company to invest and we knew the company probably one two years ago and we have been from time to time catching up and how things are developing and so on. And now two years later we are in a deep analysis the company with uh, the aim of investing so don't hesitate to send proposals and very happy to know these kind of wonderful startups that have a solution that will be something that make a change.

Leon Urban: Yes, perfect. So go out, reach out and build something special here in Iberia. You made me really optimistic about Iberia so it was great to get a view on the, on the market right now and on um, where Iberia could be in the next, in the next years. So let's hope everything turns out in the perfect way. And thank you very much for your time Natalia.

Natalia Ruf Zeith: Thank you Leon.