Private equity

For the first time in history, farmed fish production has overtaken that of wild catch. That’s partly why impact investment fund Summa Equity is betting on the sustainable salmon sector to grow five-fold by 2040.

The Norwegian private equity firm’s climate impact fund has received backing from a broad range of investors, and will focus on innovative technologies that improve the efficiency and sustainability of value chains, it says.

The fund attracted investment from a big investor in Switzerland as well as some of the biggest pension funds in the Netherlands.

The Italian impact fund, which focuses on high-growth companies in the health and wellbeing sectors, is aiming to double its fundraising target next year.

The Spanish private equity firm specialises in investing in sustainable small and medium-sized businesses. Its impact fund is centred around three core themes: healthier lives, thriving communities, and regenerative planet.

The global asset management company’s fund will focus on innovative technologies in the areas of clean energy, circular economy, natural resources, agritech and smart cities.

Impact market players say more work needs to be done in terms of education and provision of attractive investment opportunities if a wider group of investors is to be tempted to the impact sphere.

The fund will provide unitranche funding to French and European SMEs, while encouraging the companies they finance to take account of environmental and social concerns.

This is the third climate tech fund by the Dutch investment platform which has seen assets under management jump 80% in a year.

From our ‘Impact Investing and the Just Transition’ report: There was a lull in private equity impact fund raising in 2023 following a banner 2022. But there are now signs that normality is returning to the market.