London-based investment adviser, Greensphere Capital, has successfully raised £66.3 million in conditional capital for its Gaia Sciences Innovation fund.
The funding, led by the UK Infrastructure Bank and Franks Mars of Mars, Inc., aims to support start-up, spin-out, and scale-up businesses addressing biodiversity loss and climate change.
Key Investments and Objectives:
The Gaia Sciences Innovation fund will focus on investing in businesses developing products and services that contribute to sustainability across various sectors.
Funds will be allocated to start-ups and scale-ups engaged in activities such as greening real assets, green fintech, and enhancing human supply-chain resilience.
Investment Focus Areas:
Greening Real Assets: Investments will target sustainable agriculture, forestry, and ecosystem enhancement, including solutions for natural pest control, soil health improvement, afforestation, and watershed management.
Green Fintech: The fund will support technologies enabling the measurement, monitoring, and verification of biodiversity and climate impacts, such as environmental DNA collection, sensors for water and soil health, computational genetics, and AI-driven risk assessment.
Human Supply-Chain Resilience: Investments will prioritize solutions enhancing the resilience of human supply chains, mitigating pressures on ecosystems, and adapting to changing conditions.
Examples include climate-resilient food crops, alternatives to deforestation drivers like meat and palm oil, and plant-based drug discovery.
Regional Focus and Collaborations:
The fund aims to support businesses across the UK, with a particular emphasis on regional bioscience research hubs like York and Norwich.
It collaborates with prominent British bioscience and environmental institutes, including Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, ZSL, University of York, and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
About Greensphere Capital:
Established in 2011 by Divya Seshamani and Jon Moulton, Greensphere Capital specializes in investing in sustainable technology, companies, and projects addressing climate change and biodiversity loss.
The firm focuses on supporting initiatives that contribute to environmental preservation and sustainability efforts.
Conclusion:
The successful fundraising for the Gaia Sciences Innovation fund underscores the growing importance of sustainable investments in combating global environmental challenges.
With support from key stakeholders and partnerships with leading research institutes, Greensphere Capital is poised to make significant contributions to the advancement of green technologies and solutions.
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