The UK-based venture capital firm 2150 this week announced a €210 million ($249 million) final close of its second climate tech fund, taking its total assets under management to €500 million ($592 million).
The London-based firm attracted 34 investments from LPs across Asia, Europe and the US, including a US-based church group and two European family offices. It said the commitments reflected investor confidence in its strategy backing tech startups that are working on reshaping cities and the industries that power them, what the firm calls “the urban stack.”
In five years, 2150 has backed 27 companies across the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Turkey and Singapore, with technological solutions being deployed in more than 100 countries and territories.
While 2150 will only invest in companies that create a positive social and environmental impact, it keeps an eye on the cost-competitiveness of its tech solutions, founder Christian Hernandez told ImpactAlpha.
“There wasn’t, and there isn’t, a green premium. People are not willing to pay two, three times the price just because it’s green,” said Hernandez, a former executive at Facebook and Google. “They’re willing to buy something that’s going to have a lower total cost of ownership, saves them on their energy costs, and gives them stability of pricing.”
Family offices
2150’s second fund was backed by existing investors including Dutch impact investing platform Carbon Equity, the Danish sovereign fund EIFO, Denmark-based foundation-owned investment firm Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker and Novo Holdings, which manages the investments of the Danish Novo Nordisk Foundation. Viessmann Generations Group, Security Trading Oy, Islandbridge Capital and the US-based Church Pension Group came on board as new investors.
Germany-based Viessmann Generations Group and Finland-based Security Trading Oy are both industrial family offices with a historic legacy and background in manufacturing in Europe, according to Hernandez.
“Because of liquidity events, they have actually started deploying into other asset classes, and this matters for them,” he said.
Alan Snoddy, managing director of New York-based Church Pension Group, told ImpactAlpha in an email, “2150’s combination of the tool of venture with impact for people and planet aligns with both our financial ambitions and our mission for our members.” The group, with $17.5 billion in assets under management, is linked to the Episcopal Church in the US.2150’s second fund has invested in seven companies, including AtmosZero, a US-based producer of electrified industrial steam heat pump boilers; Metycle, a German marketplace for secondary metal trading, and Mission Zero Technologies, a UK-based carbon capture company, with three more investments on tap.
