€50 million raised by new cleantech fund

London, 7 December: Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF) has raised more than €50 million ($66 million) into its first clean technology venture capital (VC) fund. The London-based company claims that the fund is the first European VC fund in the sector to be backed exclusively by institutional investors.

The fund will invest between €4 million and €15 million of "expansion capital" in revenue-generating companies across Europe involved in "a broad definition of clean technologies and services", the company said. This definition includes renewable energy, energy storage and conservation, emissions reduction, water, applied materials and recycling.

Reinsurance giant Swiss Re is the fund's cornerstone investor, and is joined by the European Investment Fund, which is part of multilateral financial institution the European Investment Bank, and "a number of leading pension funds and financial institutions," ETF says, without elaborating.

Other VC funds in the cleantech sector have been backed at least in part by large multinationals, taking strategic stakes in the hope of tapping into new technologies, or by family offices or high net-worth individuals, Peter Horsburgh, a founding partner of ETF, told EFP Online.

ETF is aiming for a second close in early next year "at least as big" as this first closing, said Horsburgh. The company hopes to raise a total of €150 million into the fund.