The new early-stage venture capital fund aims to raise as much as €100m and to invest in climate and deep tech firms in the energy, materials, industrials, and food sectors.
Algebris Climatech, the first venture capital fund of global asset management firm Algebris Investments, announced its first close after raising €60m.
A key investor in the fund was CDP Venture Capital, the venture arm of Italy’s state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), which focuses on investments in startups, innovative SMEs and venture capital funds to boost the country’s economic development. An undisclosed number of Italian pension funds also participated, according to Algebris.
The new fund, which aims to raise as much as €100m, plans to invest in 15 to 20 climate tech and deep tech firms with strong growth prospects that are active in the energy, materials, industrials, and food sectors.
Marco Turchini, managing partner at Algebris, said the fund is “uniquely positioned to seize remarkable opportunities in Europe’s climate and deep tech sectors, thanks to our extensive experience and synergies within the wider Algebris group. Algebris prides itself on investing in strategies in the Italian mid-caps space as well as the green transition.”
Huge potential
With countries worldwide struggling to reach climate goals that limit global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius as agreed upon in the 2015 Paris Agreement, the scaling up of climate technologies is becoming increasingly important.
A 2023 analysis by global consultancy firm McKinsey identified 12 categories of climate technologies that could potentially slash as much as 90% of total man-made greenhouse gas emissions if they were able to be deployed at scale. However, in order for the sector to boost innovation and cut costs, McKinsey estimated climate tech investments would need to grow by about 10% each year to $2trn (€1.82trn) by 2030.
Growth
Since its foundation by Davide Serra in 2006, Algebris Investments has grown into a global asset manager with around €28bn of assets and offices in Europe, Asia and the US. While it initially focused on the global financial sector, across both equity and credit, Algebris has since branched out into global credit as well as Italian and sustainable equity.
In 2021, the firm founded a new business unit in Milan dedicated to investments in the transition towards a greener and more sustainable economy. Algebris Climatech forms part of the company’s green business unit.
