Newsletter - October 2025
Welcome to the 20th edition of the AFI Ventures’ newsletter.
As a reminder, AFI Ventures (fund managed by Ventech) is an impact VC fund that invests in pre-seed/seed startups with a strong environmental and social ambition, producing a systemic change. We invest once a month in France & Europe tickets ranging from €250K to €500K.
Each month in this newsletter, you’ll find:
🔍 A focus or key resources on an impact-related theme
📰Our Top must-read articles on the impact ecosystem🌱 Even more news from the AFI: public fundraisings, portfolio updates, and (new) where we’ve been spotted (at events) & where you can catch us next, plus a job board featuring open roles at our amazing startups.
More insights, more opportunities, more ways to connect. Let’s dive in! 💚
🔍 Focus on...Thermal Energy Storage This month, we attended the Dialogue de Zénon conference dedicated to Thermal Energy Storage (TES) for industry.
📝 Key takeaways:
Heat accounts for 50% of industrial energy use, 75% of which still comes from fossil sources.
There are three main ways to store heat:
Sensible heat storage (using materials like water, rock, molten salts, or graphite) stores energy by changing temperature and is already well developed.
Latent heat storage, based on materials such as paraffins or metal alloys, relies on phase changes to hold more energy in smaller volumes.
Thermochemical storage goes a step further, using reversible chemical reactions or absorption processes to store heat for longer periods.
While sensible heat systems are the most mature today, latent and thermochemical solutions also show strong potential for the future in long-duration energy storage applications.
Some startups are emerging, such as EPYR which uses solid ceramic storage (sensible heat storage) to make high-temperature heat electrification possible when renewable energy prices are competitive (below €20/MWh). This approach will help achieve both decarbonisation and economic viability.
Beyond just looking for breakthrough technology, momentum is building — and for good reason:
Competitive electricity prices are making thermal energy storage (TES) more relevant than ever.
Industries are embracing Heat-as-a-Service business models, creating a true win-win for both their cost savings and the environment.
Europe needs to step up to show resilience in an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape.
📥 So, if you’re an entrepreneur and want to start a project in this area, please send us an email at dealflow@afi.ventures.
📰 Top must-read articles — What Caught Our Eyes This MonthClimate Change
The revision of Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is crucial for impact-funds—because the existing framework fails to clearly distinguish between ESG risk-focused products and true impact investments raising investor confusion and misallocation of capital, said Forbes France.
Building a climate hardware startup in Europe is a long-game marathon—founders face heavy capex, complex regulation, and a 24% drop in funding in 2024. At InnoEnergy’s “The Business Booster,” deeptech innovators showcased how industrial scale-up remains the hardest step, while Europe’s €100 billion Clean Industrial Deal still falls short of the €800 billion annual gap, said Les Échos.
COP 30 could mark a turning point for climate, human rights and finance — with new frameworks expected to force financial institutions to integrate human-rights impacts into climate strategies while banks and insurers face stronger accountability from investors and regulators, said UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative.
Sustainable production and consumption
Facing China’s new export restrictions on rare earths, the European Union is threatening retaliation and accelerating efforts to secure its own supply chain—highlighting Europe’s growing vulnerability in the race for critical materials, said Le Monde.
Europe’s farmers are being forced to reinvent their practices as droughts, floods and heatwaves intensify—climate change is rewriting growing seasons and crop choices, pushing agriculture to adapt faster than ever before, said Courrier International.
China controls the rare-earth magnet chokepoint—about 69% of mining, ~92% of refining, and ~98% of magnet production—so new export controls turn even a 10% supply shock into a ~$150B hit to global output. The U.S. and EU are racing to stand up non-China mining-to-magnet capacity and recycling to blunt that leverage, said Studio Alpha.
Health & Social Changes
French households spent an average of €292 out of pocket on healthcare in 2024—up nearly 6% from 2023—driven by higher medical franchises (€1 per medicine box, €2 per consultation) and reduced dental reimbursements. Despite this rise, France still ranks among the EU countries with the lowest out-of-pocket healthcare costs, said Les Échos.
PFAS “forever chemicals” have become ubiquitous from rivers and drinking water to the blood of government ministers—illustrating the scale of Europe’s contamination crisis and the urgency of regulatory action, said Courrier International.
The UK’s NHS England and UK Health Security Agency are piloting an AI Health Coach via the national “Better Health” platform, aiming to move into an alpha phase that could serve millions—testing whether AI can support long-term behaviour change across fitness, weight, smoking and mental wellbeing, said the UK Department of Health & Social Care.
🍃 AFI Ventures HighlightsRecent News from our Portfolio
Ed.ai has been officially integrated into the French Ministry of Education’s digital access system (GAR) and Aplim/EcoleDirecte, making it accessible from nearly all middle and high school digital platforms nationwide—a major recognition of its data protection standards and alignment with the national educational framework. Learn more
Nepsis Energy has officially launched its €1.8 million bond raise on Lita.co to finance SPVE N1, a portfolio of seven ready-to-build solar projects in France totaling 1.8 MW and backed by 20-year EDF contracts—offering 8% annual returns and advancing local energy transition efforts. Learn more
Jinko has partnered with Laboratoires Pierre Fabre to launch an innovative support-care program for colorectal cancer patients—combining personalized nurse coordination, expert-validated digital content, and holistic care focused on nutrition, pain management, and mental health to enhance quality of life in oncology. Learn more
Talent Wanted: Our Startups Are Building the Future
Internship – Assistant Category Manager, Accounting & Management
Full time – Product Manager Junior, Business Developer, Sales Development Representative, Network Animator – Alpagga (Paris)
Full time – Full Stack Engineer, Software Engineer – Bohr Energie (Toulouse)
Internship – Right Hand COO, Right Hand CEO
Full time – Senior Front-end Engineer – Dift (Paris)
Full time – Biomass Pretreatment Manager, Strain Engineering Manager, Downstream Process Manager, Analyses Manager, Industrial Project Manager, Production Technician, Regulatory & Quality Coordinator – Dionymer (Bordeaux)
Full time – Senior Backend Engineer – Ed.ai (Paris, Lyon)
Internship - Electronics / Embedded Systems Engineer, Battery Modelling & State Estimation, Battery R&D and Testing Engineer, Full time - R&D Engineer/PhD Li-ion Batteries – Entroview (Nanterre, Paris)
Internship – Aerospace Data Scientist
Full time – Aerospace Data Scientist – Estuaire (Paris)
Internship – Administrative & Purchasing Assistant
Full time – Biological & Materials Characterization Engineer, Bioprocess Engineer, Cellular & Molecular Biology Technician, Chemistry / Physico-Chemistry Technician, Laboratory Assistant, Project Manager – Faircraft (Paris)
Full time – Data & Cloud Engineer – GreenPraxis (Marseille)
Full time – Senior Software Engineer (Site Controller), Lead Engineer Power Electronics (PV & ESS) – Moonwatt (Diemen)
Internship – Right Hand to the CEO – Optimiz Construction (Paris)
Full time – First Sales – Nepsis Energy (Paris)
Full time – Operations Associate, Account Executive Mid-Market, Full Stack Engineer, Head of HR, Customer Support, Customer Success Manager – Paladin (Paris)
Internship – Right Hand – Data & Automation – Prolong (Paris)
Full time – New Business Lead, Office Manager & Personal Assistant, Marketing & Communications Manager – Resortecs (Paris)
Head of R&D – Revcoo (Lyon, remote possible)
Internship – Engineering Students Graduating Soon
Full time – Machine Designer, Build & Test Engineer, Automation Engineer, Electromechanical Engineer, Supply Chain Associate, Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Technical Operations Manager (UAE) – Sirona Technologies (Brussels)
Full time – Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer – Tilt Energy (Paris)
Full time – Senior Process Engineer (USP), Head of Food Science & Innovation, Lead Process Engineer, Senior Process Engineer (DSP) – Verley (Lyon)
Events
We were at:
Impact Week by Norrsken on October 1-2 in Barcelona 🌞: Charles, Constantin and Sarah organized the “Climate & Energy Breakfast” co-hosted with SET Ventures and Seaya.
Unlock VC Side events: Sarah attended several side events organized by Brighteye Ventures and SISTA Fund to support Women in VC. 💪
Where you can find us next month:
DeepTech Connect by Réseau SATT – November 4th, Paris 🧠: A great opportunity to connect with top founders and investors driving the future of France’s deeptech ecosystem. You’ll find Alexandre in the crowd.
FD Tour Lille by EuraTechnologies – November 19th, Lille ⚡: Alexandre will attend this new edition of the FD Tour — a full day dedicated to connecting investors and entrepreneurs through panels, workshops, and speed-invest meetings.
Slush – November 19th-20th, Helsinki 🎡: Sarah will be there to meet climate founders and to support Ventech with its own side event. Register for the event just here: the Founders Fête by Ventech x HubSpot x Amplitude
🤝 Our TeamCharles Fourault - charles@afi.ventures
Constantin de Chaudenay - constantin@afi.ventures
Sarah Laznowski - sarah@afi.ventures
Alexandre Bérenger - alexandre@afi.ventures
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re an impact entrepreneur or just interested in any of these topics. 🍃