A venture fund managed by BNP Paribas Asset Management has raised €150 million to be invested in nature and climate startups across Europe and North America, it announced Tuesday.
The BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture Fund targets finalising between 15-20 investments in companies that are developing solutions to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and waste.
With a hard capitalisation target set at €200 mln, the fund is expected to raise additional resources by year-end, the asset manager said in a press release.
“Supporting the best companies to accelerate ecological transition is our mandate … with the objective of accelerating their development and significantly changing their scale,” said Yann Lagalaye, managing partner of the Solar Impulse Venture Fund.
The fund, a partnership between BNP Paribas Asset Management and Swiss environmental non-profit Solar Impulse Foundation, has already financed five startups, including UK-based NatureMetrics, which leverages environmental DNA (eDNA) to improve biodiversity monitoring.
Other investees include circular economy firm Phenix, sustainable agriculture company Axioma, energy advisor Hello Watt, and battery developer Chemix.
“We will continue, along with the Solar Impulse Foundation, to identify and support game-changer companies for the ecological transition,” said David Bouchoucha, head of private assets at BNP Paribas Asset Management.
BNP Paribas Asset Management manages €576 billion as of June, including the BNP Paribas Oasis Biodiversity Leaders fund.
The asset manager recently signed up for the Nature Action 100 initiative, which seeks to pressure companies to improve biodiversity-related policies and brings together over 200 investors with over $28 trillion in assets under management or advice.
BNP Paribas Asset Management’s global head of finance, strategy, and participations, David Vaillant, is also among the members of the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB), a France-UK led initiative seeking to scale the emerging biodiversity market.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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