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Woman-led Seaya in Spain manages three investment funds. For its Andromeda climate tech fund, it attracted €300 million from Spanish energy company Iberdrola, banks Santander, BNP Paribas, Bpifrance, as well as Nortia and Next Tech Fund.
The fund aims to invest between €7 million to €40 million ($7.5 million to $43 million) in Series A to C-stage startups supporting the energy transition, decarbonization, sustainable food systems, and the circular economy.
The fund is among the first climate tech funds in southern Europe to get Article 9 designation under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. That makes Seaya’s raise a bright spot for so-called “deep green” Article 9 funds in Europe and could signal renewed investor interest.
(A refresher: Article 9 funds must invest intentionally for impact and adhere to strict disclosure requirements. They’re more stringent than “light green” Article 8 funds, which take more of a “do no harm” approach.)
Investors have been withdrawing capital from Article 9 funds for the past year in the high interest-rate environment. Article 8 funds finally saw a rebound last quarter after nearly two years of losses and stagnation.
Top five
Seaya’s Andromeda fund has so far made five investments, including London-based maker of waste picking robots, Recycleye. Aegir Insights is a software company that supports off-shore wind projects. San Francisco-based Pachama uses remote sensing and AI to track and evaluate forest carbon credit projects. Spain’s 011h is a sustainable construction planner and developer that uses low-carbon materials. Seabery, also in Spain, leverages augmented reality to provide green training to industrial metal workers.
