NextSTEP
Venture capital · Milan, Italy · Europe
NextSTEP is an investment initiative of NextEnergy Group that invests in and accelerates early-stage climate tech startups. It also runs a startup studio and a venture building program that create and launch new sustainability-focused companies.
Invests inAI & Machine LearningSpace & Defense
In its own wordsclimate techsustainabilitystartup studioventure buildingearly stage
Your fit with NextSTEP
Four questions about your startup
See how your round matches what it backs, point by point.
Or find every investor that fitsNextSTEP lists 18 checked portfolio companies on its own site and is named in 3 funding rounds. Its most frequent entry is Seed, 100% of the companies with a known first round. Its largest themes are AI & Machine Learning (21%), Space & Defense (18%) and Education (12%). 58% of its companies are based in Italy. It invests most often alongside Zest, 360 Capital and Alante Capital.
Counts come from funding rounds that name NextSTEP, complete from mid-2025: earlier rounds appear only when they were reported later. Round amounts and full round histories are on Fundup AI.
Round figures show recent activity, not NextSTEP's whole history. Rounds on record name 3 companies; its own site lists 18. Funding rounds are complete from mid-2025, so counts and the yearly trend undercount a firm that invested before then. The portfolio, themes and places come from its own site and are not affected.
Entry stage
share of companies by the stage of its first roundShow as a table
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Pre-seed | 0% |
| Seed | 100% |
| Series A | 0% |
| Series B | 0% |
| Growth | 0% |
Activity by year
rounds it joined, last 10 yearsShow as a table
| Total | Rounds it led | |
|---|---|---|
| '17 | 0 | 0 |
| '18 | 0 | 0 |
| '19 | 0 | 0 |
| '20 | 0 | 0 |
| '21 | 0 | 0 |
| '22 | 0 | 0 |
| '23 | 0 | 0 |
| '24 | 0 | 0 |
| '25 | 2 | 0 |
| '26 | 1 | 0 |
Investor profile
percentile among all firmsShow as a table
| Measure | Percentile of all firms | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio size | 46th | 18 companies |
| Recent activity | 59th | 1 rounds in 12 months |
| Early stage | 100th | 100% of entries at pre-seed or seed |
| Evidence | 89th | 17% of companies confirmed by a round |
| Sector focus | 20th | 21% in its largest sector |
| Reach | 84th | 6 countries |
Investment themes
share of its checked companiesThis firmAll checked companies
Show as a table
| This firm | All checked companies | |
|---|---|---|
| AI & Machine Learning | 21% | 18% |
| Space & Defense | 18% | 3% |
| Education | 12% | 7% |
| Industrial & Manufacturing | 12% | 7% |
| Healthcare & Biotech | 9% | 15% |
| Climate & Energy | 6% | 1% |
| Consumer | 6% | 3% |
| E-commerce & Marketplaces | 6% | 6% |
Invests most often with
firms sharing its portfolio companiesShow as a table
| Share | |
|---|---|
| Zest | 2 |
| 360 Capital | 1 |
| Alante Capital | 1 |
| At One Ventures | 1 |
| Butterfly Ventures | 1 |
| CDP Venture Capital | 1 |
| Chalmers Ventures | 1 |
| Counteract | 1 |
Its portfolio companies
where they are based, and what their own sites showSite status
- Site answers18100%
- No longer answers00%
- Points to another company00%
- Parked or sold domain00%
A site that stops answering three checks in a row is counted as no longer answering; that is not proof of closure. A site that points to another company is often an acquisition.
Co-investor network
who it backs companies with, and who they back togetherCompare NextSTEP head to head
portfolio size, rounds, entry stages, themes and the companies both backThree or more firms at once: portfolio overlap.
Recent portfolio activity
when companies last raised with NextSTEP| Date | Company | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 2026 | Seed | |
| 14 Oct 2025 | Seed | |
| 1 Feb 2025 | Seed |
Round details for NextSTEP
Amounts, full round histories and every co-investor in NextSTEP's rounds are on Fundup AI. VCinfo covers investors and their portfolios.
Portfolio
18 companies checked against their own sites| Company | What it does | Themes | First round with it | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agrisky develops and provides a robotic plant scanner for greenhouses to detect pests and predict yields | AI & Machine LearningAI & Machine Learning | Portfolio page | ||
| Algapelago grows and processes seaweed for use in various applications, including agriculture, food, and skincare. | AI & Machine LearningAI & Machine Learning | Portfolio page | ||
| Atium develops innovative water treatment technologies for the removal of mercury from water and other fluids. | Industrial & ManufacturingHealthcare & Biotech | Portfolio page | ||
| The company installs certified digital devices to purify the air in high-traffic environments and measure its quality in real time. | Healthcare & BiotechSpace & Defense | Portfolio page | ||
| The company provides a service to pick up reusable items from households for free and sort them for reuse or recycling | Climate & EnergyConsumer | Portfolio page | ||
| Chloris Geospatial provides annual forest biomass and carbon data products | AI & Machine LearningClimate & Energy | Portfolio page | ||
| ClearWatt provides intelligence on electric vehicles, including battery health and real-world driving data, to help with buying, selling, and owning electric vehicles. | E-commerce & MarketplacesSpace & Defense | Portfolio page | ||
| Ganiga develops and provides AI-powered smart waste management solutions. | AI & Machine LearningSpace & Defense | Oct 2026Seed | Page + round | |
| The company provides AI fleet management software for mobility and logistics operators | Mobility & Logistics | Feb 2025Seed | Page + round | |
| Gevi Wind develops and manufactures adaptive vertical wind turbines powered by artificial intelligence | EducationEducation | Oct 2025Seed | Page + round | |
| Iotilize provides a waste management operating system that connects every operational phase in a single platform for waste collection companies. | Industrial & Manufacturing | Portfolio page | ||
| Leafr hires out vetted sustainability consultants and ESG advisors to clients | Space & DefenseSpace & Defense | Portfolio page | ||
| Musthad helps fashion brands manage textile waste and excess inventory | FintechE-commerce & Marketplaces | Portfolio page | ||
| Nina Energy transforms agroindustrial waste into valuable materials for carbon capture, environmental remediation, renewable energy production, livestock and food additives. | EducationAI & Machine Learning | Portfolio page | ||
| PulpaTronics makes metal-free RFID tags | Space & DefenseConsumer | Portfolio page | ||
| SIEVE simplifies the physical-chemical treatment of industrial wastewater | Industrial & Manufacturing | Portfolio page | ||
| Snelix produces premium protein and bioactive ingredients from snails | Food & AgricultureHealthcare & Biotech | Portfolio page | ||
| The First Element is developing a range of products based on its Smart Tank technology to enable the safe, accessible and scalable generation and storage of green hydrogen. | EducationIndustrial & Manufacturing | Portfolio page |
About this data
site last read 5 Nov 2026- Site
- nextstepaccelerator.com
- Last read
- 5 Nov 2026
- Watching since
- 6 Nov 2026
- Rounds since
- 1 Feb 2025
- Companies checked
- 18
Rates come from what VCinfo has observed since observation_start. Firms tend to remove companies that closed, so early rates understate reality. A company leaving a portfolio page does not mean it closed or exited. An unreachable site means our checks failed, nothing more.
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