Carbon Equity launched in 2020 to drive more private capital into climate solutions by mobilizing investors with relatively modest sums to invest. The Amsterdam-based investment manager is now expanding its portfolio with an infrastructure debt fund for individual investors and family offices.
Infrastructure projects are known for their large capital requirements. Carbon Equity’s planned €15 million ($17.5 million) fund will accept checks starting at €100,000. The firm will invest in funds that provide debt for solar parks, wind farms, battery storage and biomethane plants in Europe.
“We want to be a one-stop shop where people can go to find sustainable solutions and where they can put their savings to work,” Carbon Equity’s Wiebe Visser told ImpactAlpha.
Debt gap
Since launching, Carbon Equity has raised €500 million for climate equity strategies, including venture capital, buyouts and infrastructure. It has invested the capital in 30 funds, which collectively have backed more than 400 companies. “But we don’t have anything that’s more credit-related,” said Visser.
Despite Europe’s aggressive push to green its economies, Visser notes a “persistent funding gap” in European infrastructure debt that specialist debt funds are well-placed to fill. Debt, he added, offers “all sorts of protection that you don’t get on the equity side.”
Equity exit
Carbon Equity celebrated an exit from portfolio company Fervo Energy, a Houston, Texas-based geothermal energy company that went public last week on the Nasdaq. Fervo raised more than $1.8 billion on its first day of trading. Visser called the company a “breakthrough” in its portfolio.
“This is the first major exit in five years,” he said. “The whole ecosystem needs an exit like this. It is really important to show that clean technologies can deliver strong returns.”
