Leonie Baneke strengthens SET Ventures leadership

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – 2 June 2026 – Europe’s leading energytech venture capital firm, SET Ventures, has appointed Leonie Baneke, the former chief executive of Eneco eMobility, as associate partner, adding an operator with deep experience in the energy transition to a firm that has spent nearly two decades backing technologies aimed at reshaping how Europe produces, consumes and manages power.

The hire reflects a broader shift in the European energy landscape, where the transition has moved beyond the early focus on clean generation and into a more complicated phase defined by electrification, grid congestion, affordability and flexibility. In that environment, investors are increasingly looking for people who understand not only how to finance companies, but how to scale them through operational complexity.

The experience Leonie Baneke brings to SET Ventures

Baneke joins SET Ventures after nearly 12 years at Eneco, the Dutch energy company, where she moved through a series of investment and venturing roles before taking the helm of Eneco eMobility. During her tenure there, she helped expand the business from 100 to 200 employees, while also doubling turnover and improving profitability in a fiercely competitive market for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Her appointment comes at a moment when Europe’s energy system is being rewritten by policy, technology and consumer demand. Governments are pushing to decarbonize heating, transport and industry, while utilities and startups alike are struggling with the practical challenge of building infrastructure quickly enough to support that transition. That has created a premium on executives who can navigate both strategy and execution.

Leonie Baneke’s professional background aligns with the energy transition

SET Ventures, based in Amsterdam, has long positioned itself as one of Europe’s leading investors in energy technology, backing companies that aim to modernize the continent’s energy system through software, automation and electrification. Founded in 2007, the firm has built a portfolio that spans businesses working on cleaner heating, electric mobility, grid optimization and digital energy infrastructure.

Baneke’s background appears well suited to that mandate. Before becoming a corporate executive, she worked in investment banking and mergers and acquisitions, giving her a grounding in financial analysis, transactions and strategic decision-making. At Eneco, she went on to found Eneco Ventures, the company’s corporate venture arm, giving her experience in identifying early-stage opportunities and supporting startups from the investor side as well.

Diving deeper into Leonie Baneke’s venture capital background

That dual perspective — as both an operator and an investor — is increasingly prized in venture capital, especially in sectors like energy, where long product cycles, heavy infrastructure requirements and regulatory complexity can make scaling more difficult than in consumer software. Investors in the field often say that capital alone is not enough. Founders also need guidance on partnerships, policy, market entry and organizational growth.

Baneke has seen that challenge from multiple angles. During her time at Eneco, she also served on the boards of companies including Greenflux, Next Kraftwerke and Thermondo, all of which operate in segments tied to the energy transition. Those roles gave her direct exposure to startups and scale-ups navigating strategic decisions, expanding into new markets and eventually pursuing exits.

Why Leonie Baneke matters for SET Ventures

In a statement, Baneke said she had been drawn to the startup world early in her career and that she has long enjoyed the process of helping companies manage the difficult stages of growth. She said her own experience scaling a business gave her a clear understanding of the hard choices founders and executives face when a company begins to outgrow its original structure.

She also emphasized that venture capital should be more than a source of money. Knowledge, network access and operating experience, she suggested, are often where the real value lies for fast-growing companies trying to make the next leap.

Leonie Baneke and SET Ventures’ long-term strategy

For SET Ventures, the appointment strengthens an investment approach that has always aimed to combine capital with sector expertise. The firm has spent years cultivating relationships across Europe’s energy ecosystem, and Baneke’s existing ties to the firm underscore that continuity. The two sides had previously worked together as coinvestors in Greenflux, and later through SET’s expert network.

That relationship may prove increasingly important as the energy transition enters a more mature and demanding phase. In the early years, much of the excitement centered on the promise of renewable power generation and the rise of electric vehicles. Today, the conversation is broader and, in many respects, more difficult. Investors and founders are grappling with how to make energy systems more resilient, more affordable and more responsive to fluctuating supply and demand.

Leonie Baneke’s role in Europe’s energy future

Digital tools are becoming central to that effort. Software is being used to manage charging networks, balance grid loads, optimize heating systems and make better use of distributed energy resources. In that sense, the companies SET backs are not simply building products for a niche green market; they are attempting to rebuild the underlying logic of the energy system itself.

Baneke’s appointment also speaks to a wider evolution in European venture capital, where firms are increasingly bringing in partners with operating experience rather than only financial or technical credentials. As sectors such as energy, climate and industrial technology mature, investors are under pressure to provide more than introductions and term sheets. They are expected to help founders solve practical problems, avoid avoidable mistakes and scale responsibly.

Leonie Baneke joins SET Ventures at a pivotal moment

In that context, Baneke is not joining SET Ventures as a symbolic hire, but as someone whose background reflects the very kind of company-building experience the firm says it wants to support. She has worked on both sides of the table, from venture investing to operational leadership, and has seen how energy businesses change as they move from early promise to large-scale execution.

The timing may also work in her favor. Europe’s energy transition is no longer just a policy ambition or an environmental necessity. It is becoming an economic and industrial project, one that will require new software layers, new business models and new infrastructure to support a more electrified economy. That gives startups room to grow, but it also means the margin for error is smaller.

For SET Ventures, the bet is that Baneke’s blend of investing and operating experience can help portfolio companies navigate that terrain. For Baneke, the move offers a chance to shape the next generation of energy technology companies at a moment when the sector is both more urgent and more complex than ever.

Her appointment is a reminder that the energy transition is not only about technology. It is also about leadership, capital and the people who know how to turn ambition into companies that last.

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