News

Despite the increasingly devastating natural disasters and new crises that are shaking societies, we need to talk about the “green transition”, and talk loudly, writes SmartCap Fund Manager and Member of Board Sille Pettai.

According to a recent study conducted by EY among entrepreneurs and investors, GreenFund which was set up to accelerate the green transition, and which presently has 100 million euros available, should focus its investments primarily on hardware companies, whose solutions are more time-consuming and riskier compared to software.

Venture capital investors and VC funds estimate that the start-up companies with the greatest potential in the coming years are those which focus on green solutions, deep tech, decentralised finance and crypto, as well as improving health systems.

SmartCap is creating the 100-million-euro green technology oriented Green Fund using the funds of NextGenerationEU recovery plan, and is analysing the current state of the ecosystem of Estonian green technology companies, availability of capital, as well as market failures.

SmartCap and the University of Tartu signed an agreement to create a science accelerator in the field of health technologies to support establishment and development of deep tech startups.

SmartCap began preparations for the establishment of a new public investment fund, the GreenFund, which aims to invest in businesses that create green technologies in order to solve environmental issues and achieve a climate-neutral and circular economy. The new investment fund, which also contributes to the development of the Estonian capital market and thus more broadly the local business environment, is a part of the European recovery plan.

SmartCap has launched a procurement to find the professional service providers for developing the deep tech ecosystem in Estonia.

SmartCap is proceeding to the negotiation phase in the Deep Tech Fund call with the preferred applicant.

SmartCap uses public procurement to find the partners for executing the sub-activities that are focused on high-tech entrepreneurship ecosystem development and provision of the services. 

The investments of the Estonian national venture capital fund-of-funds managed by SmartCap have reached nearly 100 companies through both fund and direct investments as of the end of 2020 with a total turnover of approximately 400 million euros.

A total of four tenders were received by the deadline for the SmartCap procurement “Services for the creation and development of knowledge-based start-ups and development of the knowledge-based business ecosystem in Estonia”.

With the most comprehensive Responsible Business Assessment Index in Estonia, SmartCap was awarded with Silver Level. Responsible entrepreneurship is the natural and voluntary integration of company’s economic, environmental and social dimensions into its day-to-day operations, management and business strategy.