OneNorth Ventures
- Jan 29
- 2 min read
Investment Thesis
Our Investment thesis is investing in early stage growth startups at the intersection between ocean and ports.
What is your expertise with Maritime?
Oliver Risse, Managing Partner of OneNorth served as Head of Investments at HHLA Next, setting up the investment strategy and execution to build one of the worlds largest maritime startup portfolios. He's also a Limited Partner in Motion Ventures, theDOCK and tmv.
Which sectors do you invest in?
We primarily invest in:
Ocean Energy
Ocean Decarbonization
Ocean Technology
Maritime Logistics
What attracted you to this space?
Maritime is a heavily under-financed sector with great innovation potential.
What challenges do you resonate with?
Traditional industries and Startup Innovation act typically on different levels. That’s the door opener for value creation in both directions.
What types of companies have done well in your portfolio?
Hardware + software combinations
Do you focus on specific geographies?
We invest in Europe, Middle East und Asia Pacific
Long-Term Vision
What’s your outlook for the next 5–10 years in this category?
Massive investment opportunity. The global ocean tech market is supposed to grow from EUR1.3trillion to EUR2.6trillion by 2030.
In the ocean industries, a trade sale would most likely be a a successful exit. We find this aligns with the interests of the businesses we have invested in.
Strategy
Focus is on value creation. We currently work with international investors on private placements and in preparation of a strategic Venture Capital growth fund. We typically invest in Pre Series A and in Series B and the duration we hold an investment for is 5-7 years. We have no preference on leading rounds or following. We average 1-3 deals per year at this stage. We do reserve capital for follow-ons and, as active investors, we help your portfolio companies with future fundraisings (or exits).
Track record
over the past 16 years we have invested >USD100m in >50 startups. For every 1$ invested secured 5$ in co-investments.
Decision Process
Our typical investment process and timeline depends on whether founders have established an existing relation with us. In that case we expect to close an investment round in 2-3 months. Without existing relations, an investment round would require way longer to mature and close.
The Investment Committee signs off deals.
Support & Involvement
Trust, transparency and no politics make for a great founder–investor relationship.
We support your portfolio companies post-investment through regular one on ones, as much as the founders needs such kind of support.
We do you check in with our portfolio founders at a cadence which depends on the founder and their business.
In most cases we take board seats or an optional observer seat.
We have helped companies with hiring, strategy, or fundraising by providing access to an existing 150 co-investors network.
We adopt an Advisory role when things go wrong but this is case dependant. Our approach is Founder first.
Founders-Investors fit
Founders must be sure the investor fits to the company. Dating is important before marriage.
Contact
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This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a solicitation.