The Fund Selling Climate to Skeptics

In this exclusive interview, we sit down with Tim Schumacher, the visionary co-founder of saas.group and General Partner at World Fund, to explore the journey, philosophy, and future of his founder-friendly SaaS acquisition platform and his ClimateTech investments. Tim shares how saas.group evolved from its first acquisition, DeployBot, to a thriving ecosystem of 18 independent SaaS brands spanning 30 countries. He dives deep into the core values that drive saas.group’s success: a commitment to preserving the bootstrapper mindset, fostering cultural alignment, and ensuring every acquisition is tailored to the founder’s personal and professional goals. Tim also reflects on the unique challenges and opportunities in the SaaS acquisition space. He discusses why saas.group focuses on niche, revenue-driven companies often overlooked by traditional private equity firms, and how their model prioritises autonomy, transparency, and long-term partnership over purely financial metrics. From the importance of honest conversations about founders’ motivations to the practicalities of due diligence and integration, Tim pulls back the curtain on what it takes to create a dream exit for entrepreneurs. Beyond SaaS, Tim’s passion for sustainability and climate action shines through as he discusses his role as a General Partner at World Fund, a climate tech VC backing scalable, emissions-reducing technologies. He shares his perspective on the progress of decarbonisation, the role of technology in addressing climate change, and the lessons learned from building and supporting impact-driven ventures like Ecosia, the search engine that plants trees. As the conversation turns to the future, Tim paints a picture of the ecosystem he aims to cultivate over the next decade - one where founders retain their identity, teams thrive in collaborative environments, and businesses drive meaningful change.