Investment company SHIFT successfully achieves €92 million initial financing for its impact fund.
In a significant stride towards addressing environmental challenges, SHIFT Invest, a leading impact investor, has reached a first close at €92 million for its fourth fund, SHIFT Invest IV. The fund aims to reach a target of €150 million by 2025, focusing on early-to-growth stage technology-driven startups addressing climate change, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss in the Netherlands and Northwestern Europe.
The sectors targeted for investment include energy, industry, mobility, food, and agriculture. SHIFT Invest IV backs startups with software, hardware, or hybrid business models that deliver measurable environmental impact. Typical investment tickets range from €250,000 to €4 million.
A broad group of institutional and public-private partners supports SHIFT Invest IV. Notable investors include Rabo Investments, Invest-NL (a state-owned impact investor), Royal Schiphol Group, Oost NL, Brabantse Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij (BOM), ROM Utrecht Region, NV NOM, LIOF, Investeringsfonds Groningen, research-linked institutions such as Delft Enterprises, TNO Ventures, and Wageningen University & Research, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and other European funding bodies, family offices, and individual entrepreneurs.
Fay Kitzen, an investment analyst at Invest-NL, highlighted SHIFT Invest as a pioneer in impact investing, willing to take early-stage risks with high impact potential. The fund aligns with the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) Article 9, underscoring its commitment to sustainable finance. SHIFT Invest IV plans to keep investments typically for 4 to 7 years, supporting companies from proof of concept through seed and Series A stages.
Since its inception in 2009, SHIFT Invest has made over 60 investments across various sectors, including e-mobility and energy management platform Maxem, geothermal energy company Canopus, precision weather forecaster Whiffle, and circular packaging producer Pieter Pot.
SHIFT Invest IV's focus on climate and sustainability tech companies is timely, given a recent study that found UK pension funds overlook impact reports in their investment decisions. As the world grapples with the urgent need for sustainable solutions, funds like SHIFT Invest IV play a crucial role in supporting innovative startups that can help tackle environmental challenges.
- SHIFT Invest IV, a pioneer in impact investing, is focusing on early-to-growth stage technology-driven startups that address climate change, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss in Europe.
- The fund aims to reach a target of €150 million by 2025, with a broad group of institutional and public-private partners supporting its efforts.
- These partners include Rabo Investments, Invest-NL, Royal Schiphol Group, Oost NL, and research-linked institutions such as Delft Enterprises, TNO Ventures, and Wageningen University & Research.
- The fund aligns with the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) Article 9, underscoring its commitment to sustainable finance.
- Typical investment tickets range from €250,000 to €4 million, with a plan to keep investments for 4 to 7 years, supporting companies from proof of concept through seed and Series A stages.
- Since its inception in 2009, SHIFT Invest has made over 60 investments across various sectors, including e-mobility, geothermal energy, precision weather forecasting, and circular packaging production.
- As the world grapples with the urgent need for sustainable solutions, funds like SHIFT Invest IV play a crucial role in supporting innovative startups in the fields of energy transition, science, technology, real-estate, data-and-cloud-computing, and environmental-science, ultimately contributing to financial inclusion and the fight against climate-change.
