Capricorn Venture launches €150m 2nd cleantech fund

While the fund has a €150m target, a hard-cap has not been fixed yet. The VC told unquote" a potential limit could be around €200m.

Capricorn Ventures has been pre-marketing the fund in the past few months, and should start raising capital over the summer. The fundraising process should be at full speed come September, the VC said.

The Belgian fund manager is hoping to hold a first close by the end of 2016 and leave the fund open for another 12 months after that. Fundraising will begin with European LPs, with hopes of extending solicitation to other parts of the world next year.

Investors
Capricorn is looking at four different categories of investors for the fund: corporate groups in the chemical and materials area; agriculture cooperatives and companies; government agencies from various parts of the world; and selected pension funds, funds-of-funds and family offices.

Investments
Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund will focus on cleantech and bio-economy companies. Capricorn's previous foray into the cleantech sector was launched in 2006; Capricorn Cleantech Fund closed on €112m in 2008, ahead of its €75m target.

The VC will commit equity tickets ranging from €5-20m, targeting businesses in early or very early growth stages – including pre-revenue and pre-profit stages. Capricorn said it will look to take a determining role in the targeted business, with an aim of holding 10-20% of the share capital in its portfolio companies.

Targeted companies will be located primarily in Europe, but the GP said investments were also planned in regions further afield, such as North America.

More generally, the GP said the aim was to fund developments in feedstock and sources of materials that can replace oil, as well as conversion technologies that can transform them into chemicals.

People
Capricorn Venture Partners – Jos Peeters (managing partner).

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