By: Sebastian Maks
Investors have already invested 50 million euros in a new climate tech fund from the company Carbon Equity. This is evident from the first of three benchmarks. This means that the expectations of Carbon Equity, a company that enables private investors to invest in promising sustainable companies, have been considerably exceeded. The result: an expansion of ambition.
If you, as an investor, want to green your portfolio, you have several options available. For example, you can invest in a sustainable investment fund of a large bank or asset manager. However, these funds are limited to listed companies, while a lot of climate innovation takes place at unlisted start-ups and scale-ups. Another option is crowdfunding; deposit money yourself with companies that ask for it. But as an investor you need a lot of knowledge for that, and you also put all your eggs in one basket. This breaks with an important investment mantra: diversify your equity portfolio.
Expensive for the individual
A third option is to invest in so-called venture capital and private equity funds. You then rely on the experience of experts who invest in sustainable companies for you, and ensure that you invest in climate innovation companies. But this also has a disadvantage: investing in such funds is quite expensive.
Bridge between investor and fund
That is why investment platform Carbon Equity has set up a climate-tech fund, which should act as an 'air bridge' between private investors and the relatively expensive, sustainable investment funds. The ‘Climate Tech Portfolio Fund II’ opened to the investment public at the beginning of this year.
“It is difficult for people with limited assets to invest in sustainable start-ups and scale-ups,” says Jacqueline van den Ende, co-founder and CEO of Carbon Equity. “Normally you need about 5 million euros to invest in climate-related private equity funds. We have reduced that to 100,000 euros and soon even to 50,000 euros.”
Hundreds of sustainable companies
With the relatively small sum of money, investors invest via Carbon Equity in a basket of about seven to ten climate tech funds. These funds in turn invest in unlisted companies, about 150 to 250 in total, from very young to mature. They are all promising, international sustainability start-ups and scaleups, and they represent a total of six sectors: agriculture and food, industry, mobility, built environment, renewable energy and energy storage, and CO2 storage.
Two-thirds of fund filled
The fund has already aroused considerable interest from investors. At the first close, the first of three benchmarks in which Carbon Equity will put investors' money to work, it turned out that 50 million euros had been invested in the fund. That is already two thirds of the total amount (75 million euros) that Van den Ende wanted to collect at the last calibration moment. She has therefore broadened her ambition: “We are now moving up to a minimum of 100 to 125 million euros”.
Global shift
The interest in green investments is not only evident in the interest in Carbon Equity's fund. Worldwide, investments in private equity funds declined in 2022, while the climate-related investment market showed the opposite trend. According to Van den Ende, this has two explanations.
“First, government incentives are on the rise. Take, for example, the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States. That may be the biggest stimulus ever. In Europe we have the Green New Deal and the Net Zero Industry Act. There is a lot of encouragement from the government for sustainable technologies. But it also applies: companies must become more sustainable. It is clear that the world is moving in one direction. There is no future for fossil fuels. Investors used to see green investments as a trade-off between wanting to do the right thing and achieving a return. Now they see that those two things can go together.”
Looking forward
Van den Ende also thinks that investors are increasingly realizing that climate investment takes a long time. “Investors are impatient by nature,” she says. “But before a sustainable start-up really gets off the ground, it takes ten years. Although the minimum investment time of funds is often still short, it is getting longer for many funds. Investors therefore do realize that green investing needs more time.”
https://www.carbonequity.com/
