Investing in green coastal protection

How to establish the reality factor of an attractive business plan? Our client, a small Dutch venture capital fund with long-standing roots in sustainable entrepreneurship, had come across a suitable investment opportunity: it was green, it involved a Dutch patented technology; it was proposed by an experienced entrepreneur that had a 20 year track record of running his business; and it was targeted at the growth market of tourism infrastructure. However, our client’s team of financial experts did not have the engineering skills to evaluate the opportunity of the technology.

They therefore hired B&W to do a technical due diligence. We positioned the patent in its relevant arena and assessed its market potential. We interviewed the entrepreneur and established the existing gaps to successful application of the technology. We identified competitors and methods which had not been previously mentioned. Based on this, we suggested a re-orientation of the business plan to strongly reduce risk while at the same time increasing the attractiveness towards public co-funding for the planned activities.

Within a matter of weeks, we supplied our client with the expert opinion needed to valuate correctly the risks and potential business opportunity of the proposed plan. From here the investment manager could take the appropriate actions.