Anna Trendewicz, investment associate at Future Energy Ventures, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2025.
An engineer by training, Anna Trendewicz became interested in venture investment because she wanted to help sustainability startups get the funding they often struggled to obtain.
“There were a lot of great ideas that just did not get funding. I thought if I went into finance, I could contribute to directing the flow of capital into sustainable solutions.”
She now focuses her investments at Future Energy Ventures (FEV) on three key verticals – future energy, future cities and future technologies. “We focus on energy transition and decarbonisation. One of the main verticals for the firm is future energy, which includes looking at the entire value chain of clean energy system. Energy is the foundation of economic growth and fuels new technologies such as AI.”
FEV began life as the corporate venturing arm of German electric utility RWE, which was subsequently bought by competitor E.on. The unit spun out of E.on in 2022, but the utility company is a backer alongside a number of corporates from other sectors, public funding, institutional investors and family offices.
“There were a lot of great ideas that just did not get funding. I thought if I went into finance, I could contribute to directing the flow of capital into sustainable solutions.”
Trendewicz says FEV has “lively and frequent” interactions with its LP investors. “We often introduce the startups, and it is an opportunity for commercial collaboration,” she says. “It is a free exchange of ideas focused on potential value creation.”
Trendewicz is excited about the potential for energy flexibility, where consumers can become ‘producers’ by providing services to the grid. She also sees opportunities in optimising energy use for data centres and other high-compute applications, as the use of AI grows.
She is planning a move to Silicon Valley, as FEV expands its investments in the US. What she relishes most is being closely involved with helping founders build their business.
“Once the deal is closed, you get to be part of the journey of the company and actively participate in creating value, it is really nice to see the positive outcomes,” she says.
See the full list of Rising Stars 2025 here.
