• World Fund invests in European climate tech start-ups
• The start-ups have the potential to save at least 100 million tons of CO2-equivalents per year
• The funds will be deployed across Europe – with a partial remit to invest in Germany and the Netherlands.  

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is investing – with support of the InvestEU programme – €50 million into the climate tech venture capital fund World Fund, joining more than 200 investors including PwC Germany, Ecosia, and the UK Environment Agency’s pension fund in supporting the next generation of climate tech companies.

This is one of the largest investments EIF has made into a first-time VC fund.

The investment is part of the EIF’s mission to support high-growth and innovative Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) across Europe, as well as to ensure at least 16% of its activity is in climate and environment-related projects in 2022 with the goal to increase to 25% by 2024.

Founded in 2021, World Fund is Europe’s leading climate tech VC fund. It invests in start-ups that have the potential to save at least 100 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year and tackle the most pressing issue of our time. Climate tech is one of the fastest-growing areas of European tech.

World Fund’s strict criteria for investment aims to back companies using technology to directly reduce emissions not only to help achieve the world’s climate goals faster. In order to find these start-ups, World Fund’s team of experts has devised with the climate performance potential (CPP) assessment to gauge a start-up’s ability to assist in the fund’s goal of reducing emissions.

This assessment has led World Fund to invest amongst others in quantum computing leader IQM, Europe’s fastest-growing space tech start-up Space Forge and the precision fermentation platform Planet A Foods.

The EIF`s financing into World Fund comes from EIF, the new InvestEU programme and regional mandates from across Europe, including The Netherlands (DFF), Germany (ERP Special Fund), and Bavaria (LfA). As part of this, World Fund will invest in start-ups in each of these regions, alongside Europe.  

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Founded by Tim Schumacher, Daria Saharova, Craig Douglas, and Danijel Višević, the high calibre of World Fund’s investment strategy, best practices and ESG frameworks saw the fund ranked first in Europe for Environmental, Social and Governance by alternative assets data and insights provider Preqin earlier this year. 

Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said: “The new InvestEU programme will help businesses across Europe gain access to the funds they need to innovate, grow and create jobs. This agreement is an excellent example of how the programme will help us achieve our green objectives through supporting innovative technology start-ups. I am pleased to see InvestEU helping entrepreneurs across Europe unlock funds that will enable them to achieve their full potential.”

EIF-CEO Alain Godard said: “The climate tech VC market in Europe is in its infancy, and World Fund stands out as a fund with a strong track record, network, investment hypothesis and experience, as well as scientific and commercial expertise within its founding team. These factors, alongside World Fund’s climate performance potential measurement criteria, have convinced us to back their first fund, with the support of the European Commission and we look forward to supporting the next generation of high-growth climate start-ups across the continent.”

Danijel Višević, co-founder of World Fund, said: “We’re thrilled to have EIF on board as an anchor LP in fund I, alongside the likes of the UK’s Environment Agency pension fund, PwC Germany and Ecosia. We see this landmark investment – one of the largest EIF has made in a first-time VC fund – as a strong signal that the European Union is serious about tackling the climate crisis. It will help us continue our mission to back the founders that will deliver decarbonisation at scale.”