World Fund closes first €300 million climate technology fund to provide continuity and equipment support

After three years of fundraising, the World Fund has finally closed its first fund value €300 million, which is €50 million lower than its 2021 goal, but still a major number considering the war and economic uncertainty. The VC fund originally emerged from the founders of the independent search engine Ecosia, where queries funded tree planting.

If you are searching for comparisons, Norrsken VC is a $130 million impact VC focused on climate, while Demeter Partners lifted up €250 million fund specializing in climate.

The Global Fund can be there supported by the European Investment Fund (which paid EUR 50 million), KfW Capital, Wachstumsfonds, BPI France (the fund’s first investment outside France), PwC Germany, NRWbank and Ignitis Group. The World Fund can also be supported by pension funds including the UK Environment Agency Pension Fund, Wiltshire Pension Fund and Croatia’s Erste Plavi.

World Fund has already invested a few of its funds in a variety of climate technology corporations, but says this capital will enable it to make 25-30 investments in European decarbonization start-ups.

His most notable investments include IQM Quantum Computers, Space Forge, Planet A Foods, Juicy Marbles ENOUGH Foods, CustomCells, recycling company Cylib, and proptech startups Aedifion and Ecoworks.

The World Fund ended the rise amid war in Europe, rising rates of interest and volatile stock prices. Commenting fund managing partner Danijel Višević said: “It has been a very difficult fundraising environment, especially in 2023.”

“We are investing exclusively in decarbonization technologies and are reserving more than two-thirds of our capital for further investments because it is difficult to fill the gap at a later stage in Europe,” he added.

He said hardware should be a crucial a part of his strategy: “That’s one thing we’re doing wrong in Europe by not focusing on climate hardware.” He added that the fund invested in technical talent akin to biotechnology and biochemists to evaluate investments.

The World Fund raise comes at the best time.

In 2023, European start-ups coping with climate technologies raised over USD 20 billion, which is nearly the identical as within the previous 12 months and breaking the downward trends in other sectors, According to to the Dealroom.

The UK, Sweden and Germany led when it comes to total climate technology risk in 2023, but Iceland, Lithuania and Bulgaria showed significant growth.

And climate technology does he’s doing well in Europe.

The valuations are there maintaining value and European energy-related patents increased by 15% y/y

The Berlin World Fund was founded in 2021 by Daria Saharova, Višević, Tim Schumacher and Craig Douglas. It has offices in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Amsterdam.