Private equity strategies are the favored vehicle for global institutional investors, especially corporates, that are looking to put capital to work for impact. Of the 122 new impact funds that launched globally last year, more than half were from private equity managers, according to a new report from Dutch impact consultant Phenix Capital.
Some 67 new PE impact funds debuted, compared to 24 private debt launches. Funds of funds, and public equities and debt rounded out the total. Real assets, with an emphasis on infrastructure, make up the second largest strategy, representing 22% of the impact fund universe. Foundations, corporations, and pension funds are the largest LPs in private impact funds.
The Impact Fund Universe Report suggests that LPs with an impact mandate appreciate the longer timelines of private equity funds that give managers a chance to improve and scale up portfolio companies.
Phenix Capital’s database features nearly 3,000 global impact funds that have raised a combined total of €701 billion ($758.4 billion) since 2015. Nearly half of these funds are private equity strategies. Managers in the database are actively raising roughly 1,330 funds.
Fund launches
The Phenix Capital report spotlights some private equity managers in active fundraising, including Dutch impact investor Gilde Healthcare, which is building out its focus on climate with a new €250 million private equity fund. The firm, which has offices in Frankfurt and Boston, says it was approached by several large institutions in Europe to establish such a strategy.
More than half of the 122 new impact funds launched last year had a climate focus, according to Phenix Capital’s database.
Gilde Healthcare, a $2.6 billion private equity and venture capital firm, spun out of Dutch financial services provider Rabobank 20 years ago with a healthcare investing focus. It currently manages a €416 ($450 million) growth capital fund that invests in lower middle-market healthcare companies in Europe and North America.
The new climate fund will take a similar approach in climate, according to Stephanie Moojj and David de Graaf, who Gilde has appointed to lead the new climate fund. The fund will invest in lower middle-market European companies with solutions that address the triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, with an overarching focus on carbon reduction.
Gilde plans to write equity checks of up €50 million, with an option to increase to €100 million with co-investments from the climate fund’s LPs.
Privium Fund Management, based in Amsterdam, is looking to raise €500 million for its Biodiversity Impact Fund, launched in the first quarter of 2025 in partnership with Impact Orange Partners. The fund, which has already secured commitments from Dutch family offices, will invest in global regenerative agriculture, sustainable forestry and ocean preservation and sustainable fishery solutions.
Both Gilde Healthcare’s climate fund and the biodiversity fund are classified as Article 9 funds under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, or SFDR, which aims to prevent greenwashing in impact investments.
That’s a wrap
Munich-based Golding Capital Partners last week closed its first private equity impact fund of funds, following a four-and-a-half years of fundraising, with €115.5 million ($125 million) from pension funds, insurance companies and foundations from Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Portugal.
A fifth of the capital committed came from new LPs, according to Golding. Golding is planning to launch a Europe and North America-focused climate tech fund in the fourth quarter of this year
