Dutch civil service scheme ABP has invested through its asset management firm APG in Energy Impact Partners’ (EIP) newly-launched European Fund, which targets mission-driven companies advancing the net-zero carbon economy.
EIP, a US-based global venture capital firm supporting the transition to a sustainable future, said the fund launch is part of its first global expansion.
It has €390m from investors including ABP to deploy in European investments to accelerate the growth of innovative technologies which have the potential to drive the transition towards net zero, EIP said.
“Europe is leading in the energy transition and is a key market on the road to net zero where we are seeing thousands of investable opportunities. We are thrilled to now be able to partner with brilliant European entrepreneurs to help accelerate the innovations tackling climate change,” said Hans Kobler, founder and chief executive officer of EIP.
“Our model of collaboration across entrepreneurs, industrial partners, and our highly-experienced team should also make it easier for European technologies to access the North American market,” he added.
The fund will seek growth and venture investments across the continent, targeting mission-driven companies with established products, markets and customers across the full spectrum of the energy transition. This includes high impact European tech companies that contribute to safer, more flexible and cleaner energy sources.
Mirroring the strategy of its North American funds, this new European fund is structured to enable EIP to partner with European entrepreneurs, “supporting their growth and success with a combination of capital and commercial support through EIP’s powerful coalition of industrial firms”, the firm announced.
EIP’s collaborative model brings together a global coalition of over 50 forward-looking corporations that are committed to decarbonising the global economy. The partnership-driven model has a proven track record in driving revenues from EIP’s corporate LPs to portfolio companies.
The platform has enabled over 350 contracts and delivered more than $1bn in bookings and business to a portfolio of 100+ companies. The new fund will bring the partnership-driven model to the European market.
Amongst others, partners and investors in the fund include AGL Energy Ltd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ADIA) Chubu, DNV, Électricité de France (EDF) Group through its corporate venture capital arm EDF Pulse Ventures, EWE AG, Fortum, Galp, Mainova AG, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Nysnø Climate Investments (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry & Fisheries), Shell Ventures and TrønderEnergi AS.
“The energy transition is the most promising investment opportunity of our generation with a global estimated $9trn to be spent annually. A lot of this money will be spent on new climate-technologies,” said Matthias Dill, CEO and co-managing partner of EIP Europe.
“We experienced tremendous demand for climate tech as an investment theme among financial and corporate LPs,” said Nazo Moosa, co-managing partner at EIP Europe. “A key challenge for many of these companies is lack of access to larger, more scalable markets.”
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