Young ocean health impact investment fund closes at €170m

SWEN Capital Partners, a provider of unlisted sustainable investment solutions told Net Zero Investor today it has closed its relatively young ocean health impact investment vehicle.

SWEN revealed the fund has now reached €170m – exceeding its stated target of €120m. It claims to be the largest VC impact fund in the world investing for the regeneration of ocean health.

Institutional investors from Europe and the US, ranging from pension funds to insurance companies, banks, sovereign funds and family offices, account for more than 85% of the fund’s commitments. 

The most recent funding round saw investments from Abeille Assurances and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

Other investors include the insurance firms MACIF and MAIF, the banking group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, the French Public Investment Bank (Bpifrance), Builders Vision, Ferd, the Planet Ocean Fund and Ifremer (France’s leading ocean research institute).

Nine investments so far

The fund was originally launched in September 2021 in scientific partnership with Ifremer to finance 20 to 25 innovative, primarily startup companies across sustainable aquaculture, ocean data, plant and cell-based seafood, alternatives to single-use plastic, renewable marine energies and decarbonization of maritime transport.

To date, the fund has made nine investments*, including ECOsubsea, a provider of environmentally friendly in-water hull cleaning services to the worldwide shipping industry based in Norway.

It also pumped cash into BIBAK, a French software technology solution making reusable packaging services simpler.

Another French company also received funding, namely BlueNav, a French firm that develops motorization solutions that convert any boat propelled by combustion engines, into a hybrid electric boat.

“The ocean is one of the main engines of the climate and a sanctuary for biodiversity on our planet," stressed Christian Lim, Managing Director of the SWEN Blue Ocean Fund. 

"We believe ocean impact investing has a major role to play in the global movement to restore the planet and our relationship with it, and we want to play our part," he added.

In addition to this fund, in 2021, SWEN Capital Partners, alongside others such as Ocean Hub Africa, Katapult Ocean and Conservation International Ventures, co-founded the 1000 Ocean Start-ups initiative, which is now hosted by the WEF. 

The coalition brings together incubators, accelerators, matching platforms, and VCs with the collective objective to scale at least 1000 startups. It also aims at mainstreaming ocean health investing.