Swen raises additional EUR 43m for Blue Ocean Fund

Blue Ocean Fund now stands at EUR 95m in total and was launched in September 2021 at the World Conservation Congress. It held a first close that same month on EUR 52m and has a target of EUR 120m, according to Unquote Data.

The fund will deploy 70% in Series A rounds with proven technology and demonstrable market traction; and 30% on venture growth. However, the VC will allow up to 10% to be used for opportunistic seed investments. At least 80% of investments will be made in Europe,  a spokesperson for Swen told Unquote. The GP will hold significant minority positions and will target companies that are dedicated to ocean regeneration.

The fund was created to provide private capital to support ocean regeneration, with a particular focus on ocean pollution, overfishing and climate change. The vehicle will deploy EUR 120m and has targeted 25 deals. The fund champions ocean regeneration in line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal #14.

According to Swen's spokesperson, the investment team brings expertise on innovations for ocean health and 36 years of investment experience. The two primary managers of the fund are Christian Lim and Olivier Raybaud.

The Swen Blue Ocean investment strategy complements Swen's Impact Fund for Transition II, which is dedicated to renewable gas and greenfield assets, as reported.

Investors
A spokesperson for the GP told Unquote that investors are based in France, the Nordic region and the US, but that this was likely to broaden to include Europe and the UK.

According to the GP's spokesperson, investors include French mutual insurer Macif; French mutual bank Arkéa; French public investment fund BPI France; Ifremer Research Institute; FERD, a family office in Norway that is active in the aquaculture space; and Builders Vision, a US-based family office that has a focus on ocean health.

Investments
A spokesperson told Unquote that the fund's first investment was in Norwegian startup Optoscale. The business measures fish biomass in aquaculture pens, which helps salmon farmers reduce excess feeding thus generating savings and addressing ocean pollution from feed waste.

As for further deals, the GP claimed that its deal pipeline is looking very healthy and said more investments will be announced in due course.
 
People
Swen Capital – Christian Lim, Olivier Raybaud (partners).

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