Crowds in traditional Bavarian dress on the avenue at Munich’s Oktoberfest, in golden-hour light.

Munich · Oktoberfest 2026 · By invitation

Tech for Climate
at Oktoberfest

We’ve reserved the whole Metzger Stubn tent for one afternoon. It’s for the family offices, funds of funds, private investors and corporates backing climate deep tech, and a few VCs and founders.

Thursday, 24 September 2026
11:00–17:00
Metzger Stubn tent · Oktoberfest, Munich

Request an invitation Or volunteer to help run it

Co-hosted by Tech for Impact, UnternehmerTUM, TUM Venture Labs & Munich Climate Week

Your hosts Tech for Impact ×

Under the auspices of Emblem of the Consulate-General of Japan in Munich

Why we’re doing this

A room for allocators

Every September, founders and investors come to Munich for Oktoberfest, PE Insights and Bits & Pretzels. On the 24th we’ve reserved the whole Metzger Stubn, a traditional Oktoberfest tent, for an afternoon with the people funding climate deep tech and a few of the people building it.

It runs from 11:00 to 17:00, by invitation, with food and drinks throughout. We’re keeping it small so you can talk properly with people. There’s no stage and no panel. Come for the part that interests you and leave when you like.

Family offices, funds of funds, private investors and corporates anchor many of the funds and companies building climate deep tech. Yet they rarely get unhurried time with each other, or with the best managers and founders in the field. Big conferences don’t give them that.

So we’re giving them one afternoon in a small group: mostly LPs, with a few VCs and climate deep-tech founders.

Your hosts

Co-hosted by Tech for Impact, UnternehmerTUM, TUM Venture Labs & Munich Climate Week

Seira Yun of the Tech for Impact Summit hosts the afternoon with Simon Herzog of UnternehmerTUM, the Technical University of Munich’s center for innovation and business creation, and Mariana Pedraza-Copete, Chair and Co-Founder of Munich Climate Week. TUM Venture Labs co-hosts too, and its Lucia Lara Vargas is the MC.

Seira Yun

Founder, Tech for Impact Summit

Tech for Impact Summit

Simon Herzog

Head of Mobility Projects, UnternehmerTUM

Mariana Pedraza-Copete

Chair & Co-Founder, Munich Climate Week

Lucia Lara Vargas

MC · Senior Venture Manager, TUM Venture Labs

Under the auspices of

Consulate-General of Japan in Munich
在ミュンヘン日本国総領事館

Portrait of Prof. Dr. Helmut Schönenberger, co-founder and CEO of UnternehmerTUM. — Ambassador
Prof. Dr. Helmut Schönenberger Co-founder and CEO, UnternehmerTUM

Who’s in the room

Mostly LPs, with a few VCs and founders

Most guests are family offices, funds of funds, private investors and corporates, with a strong Japanese corporate presence. A small group of VCs and founders joins them.

Family offices

Single- and multi-family offices allocating to climate and frontier technology.

Funds of funds

Institutional and private funds of funds building exposure to climate venture.

HNWIs & angels

Private investors and operator-angels active in climate and deep tech.

Corporates & strategics

Corporate venture and strategy leaders looking for climate innovation, including Japanese companies invited through the Consulate-General’s network.

VCs

A small number of climate and deep-tech fund managers.

Founders

A few founders building hard climate technology in energy, industry, materials, carbon and adaptation.

Japan in the room

Japanese corporates will be there. Tech for Impact has held its summit in Tokyo every year since 2024. Corporate venture and strategy leaders from major Japanese companies working in climate and deep tech are coming to Munich, some through our Tokyo network and some through the Consulate-General. Funds and founders can meet them in one afternoon.

By invitation only

Tell us a little about yourself. We read every request ourselves and invite guests directly.

Request an invitation

The afternoon

Come for an hour or stay all day

It’s a long afternoon, and nobody needs to stay for all of it. Two conversations have fixed times, so you can plan around them.

11:00–12:45

Tent opens

Arrive when you like. Bavarian lunch and drinks are served all afternoon, the Stubn band is playing, and the hosts are at the door.

12:45–12:51

Welcome

The music stops and everyone gathers. Seira opens with the house rules and explains the next hour. Simon welcomes everyone on behalf of UnternehmerTUM, and Toshiya Okuma, Consul at the Japanese Consulate-General in Munich, brings a welcome from the Consulate. It takes a few minutes.

Seira Yun

Simon Herzog

Toshiya Okuma

13:00–14:00

Strategy dialogues

A private hour for allocators. Small tables, each with one question and led by a peer, under the Chatham House rule. Nothing is written up or shared afterwards. At the same time, VCs and founders hold their own tables on their own questions. The music stays off for the hour.

14:30–14:50

Fireside I — Where do Europe and Japan take sustainability next?

Two chairs and two microphones on the tent floor. No moderator and no slides. One voice from Japan, one from Europe. Both regions are working through the same transition from different starting points, with different industries, rules and habits. Where is each taking sustainability next? What can one learn from the other, and where could they move faster together? The tent falls quiet again for it.

Itsuma Tanaka

Mascha Bonk

14:50–15:20

Live music & networking

The band plays. The hosts and a few connectors we’ve briefed introduce people across the tables.

15:20–15:40

Fireside II — Can Europe build a sun?

The second fireside, same format. Fusion, capital and the race to a first power plant: can Europe build a sun, and who pays for the attempt?

Lucio Milanese

Christian Bauer

15:40–16:20

Live music & networking

The band plays again until the last fireside.

16:20–16:40

Fireside III — From intention to allocation

The third and last fireside, same format. What actually moves private capital into impact, and what quietly stops it? One voice from a family office that went early, one from a foundation that puts its capital into funds. What moved the last allocation they saw, what nearly stopped it, and what would make a family that is interested today actually allocate in 2027.

Kelley Luyken

Svenja Becker

Jannik Lüst

16:40–17:00

Final conversations, closing remarks & toast

Time to finish a conversation. Mariana Pedraza-Copete of Munich Climate Week closes the afternoon, followed by a toast and a last song from the band.

Mariana Pedraza-Copete

The 13:00 tables

One question per table

Each table has one question and is led by a peer. Pick yours when you arrive. If you’re late, a steward will seat you.

Allocators

From interested to allocated

What actually makes private capital move into impact, and what quietly stops it?

LPs & GPs

Backing a fund, backing a deal

What does an LP actually look for before backing a fund? How does a GP’s strategy and timeline hold up against it? And when do the two co-invest in the same company?

City & industry

Who can actually decarbonize a city?

Munich’s companies produce roughly half its emissions. If government can’t mandate the transition, who has the power to make it happen?

Allocators & project developers

From Carbon and Nature Claims to Investable Climate Assets

Carbon markets, biodiversity outcomes and regenerative agriculture are increasingly framed as investable climate opportunities, yet many high-integrity projects still struggle to attract capital. What does it actually take to make one financeable at scale?

Corporates, founders & VCs

From pilot to purchase order, in Europe and Asia

Asia’s corporates have to decarbonize. Europe’s startups have the technology. Yet corporates in both regions run many pilots and sign few purchase orders. What gets a startup from pilot to paying contract, across a border as well as an org chart, and what must the corporate, the founder and the investor each bring?

Industry & investors

Who pays to rebuild an industry?

Mobility has to re-tool while its margins are under pressure. Who finances that, and what does it mean for everyone selling into it?

Simon Herzog Chaired by Head of Mobility Projects, UnternehmerTUM
Dr Oliver Krause Managing Partner · Advantum Ventures
Martin Scheuplein CSO · Continum Energy / me|energy
Alexander Hartmann Venture Clienting Lead · AUDI AG - Audi Startup Connect

Industry, founders & investors

What does it take for Europe to win in batteries, and where?

Across the battery value chain, where should Europe own, where should it lead, where should it partner, and where should it stop trying to compete?

Corporates

When sustainability pays

Take away the reporting requirement. Where has sustainability already won customers, cut costs or protected revenue, and what proof got the CFO to fund it?