SmartCap Green Fund

SmartCap Green Fund principal purpose is to increase the supply of venture capital to new green technologies by making investments via other venture capital funds or directly into innovative and/or research-intensive green technology companies.

Green Fund has been initiated with the principal purpose of increasing the supply of venture capital to new green technologies by financing innovative and/or research-intensive green technology companies. Green Fund aims to contribute to the fulfillment of the objectives of the strategy “Estonia 2035” and promote the environmental objectives of Article 9 of the Taxonomy Regulation.

 

The principal investment objective of the Green Fund is to support Estonian early-stage green technology companies with high growth potential that are in one or more of the strategic areas (energy, agriculture, food industry, transport and logistics, material and chemical industry and the environment). The green technology companies shall meet both of the following criteria:

 

  • the company develops innovative and/or research-intensive technologies,
  • such technology contributes to achieving at least one of the following environmental objectives:
    • climate change mitigation,
    • climate change adaptation,
    • the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources,
    • the transition to a circular economy,
    • pollution prevention and control,
    • the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem.

Goal

To increase the amount of financial capital available to green technology companies.

Fund size

Fund size is € 100 million, invested through private venture capital funds.

Investment focus

* Seed stage * Early stage * Growth stage

Investment period

2022-2026

Outcome

Equity funding is easily accessible for green technology companies.

Green Fund fund investments

The aim of Green Fund fund investments is to maximize the return for the investors and help create technological breakthroughs to solve environmental problems and achieve a climate-neutral circular economy. For current calls, please see the Open Calls section.

To meet the objective, SmartCap is looking for private fund managers, who have significant investment focus and presence in Estonia. Their investments should contribute to the development of the local capital market and business environment, as well as raise awareness about the most relevant environmental issues.

The  fund managers should have the ambition to contributing into solving environmental problems by fostering promising innovative green technologies, their teams have experience in green technology and an ability to contribute to climate or other environmental goals. Previous experience investing into startups is highly preferred.

In the first stage of Green Fund fund investments, SmartCap is planning up to two cornerstone investments in the amount of 20 million euros per fund, to unassociated private fund managers which will establish and manage green technology funds via an open Call. SmartCap announced a Call for Expressions of Interest (Call) on September 6th, 2022.

Green Fund direct investments

On October 31st 2022, SmartCap announced its Greentech Investment Programme (GTIP). Through GTIP, we are planning to make 20 million euros worth of investments as direct equity or convertible instruments into greentech companies until the end of 2024.

SmartCap Green Fund will participate in the investment rounds together with other private investors, and the participation of private capital must be at least 50% of the investment round. More information on GTIP can be found here.

SmartCap Green Fund Annual Reports

SmartCap Green Fund is financed by the European Union NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Facility funds.