BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) announced today that its BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture Fund (BNPP SIVF), reached its minimum target size of €150m in July 2024. With a final closing expected before the end of the year, the team will continue to ramp up its investment activity.
The capital will enable BNPP SIVF, managed by the Private Assets division within BNPP AM, to make 15-20 investments into European and North American high-potential growth startups. BNPP SIVF is the result of an exclusive partnership between Bertrand Piccard’s Solar Impulse Foundation and BNPP AM.
BNP Paribas seeded its first envelope deployed by the investment team in climate tech, the new SFDR article 9 fund has opened its existing strategy to third party capital while still focussing on ecological transition issues in the broadest sense. 2Target sectors include the energy transition, sustainable agriculture and food, the circular economy, water and ocean management, smart cities, sustainable mobility, and industrial innovation.
The Fund’s first investments include:
- NatureMetrics – a British start-up developing a measurement and monitoring of biodiversity solution based on environmental DNA samples
- Phenix – a French scale-up active in the circular economy helping reduce food and non-food waste
- Axioma – a promising French bio-solutions start-up which targets to accelerate the ecological transition of agriculture mitigating hydric stress for plants
- Hello Watt – a disruptive energy renovation one-stop shop to make it simpler, more efficient and more accessible for homeowners
- Chemix – a US tech company revolutionising next-generation battery design thanks to their GenAI-powered self-driving lab
Limited Partners include a mix of institutional, corporate and family office investors willing to act alongside BNP Paribas (€75m committed) and the Solar Impulse Foundation to accelerate the Ecological Transition. With a hard cap at €200m, the Fund aims at federating additional Limited Partners who share the same ambition as BNP Paribas and the Solar Impulse Foundation.
Yann Lagalaye, Managing Partner of the BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture Fund said, “We are delighted to have reached this milestone for the BNPP Solar Impulse Venture Fund and to have already invested in 5 flagship promising startups. Supporting best climate tech companies to accelerate ecological transition is our mandate and the team is eager to grow this activity within BNP Paribas Asset Management in the coming years, building bridges between our strong network and entrepreneurs, with the objective of accelerating their development and significantly changing their scale.”
David Bouchoucha, Head of Private Assets at BNP Paribas Asset Management said, “BNPP SIVF’s successful closing is evidence of the strong interest of our client investors to actively contribute to tackling climate change, fully aligned with the long-standing commitment of BNP Paribas to support young and innovative cleantech companies. We will continue, along with the Solar Impulse Foundation, to identify and support game-changer companies for the ecological transition.”