By David G. Barry
The First Swedish National Pension Fund (AP1) and the Australian pension fund NGS Super
are among the backers of Lightrock’s inaugural Climate Impact Fund.
The London-based private equity firm closed the fund at €860 million (US$840
million), far exceeding its €600 million (US$586 million) target.
In addition to the two pension funds, Lightrock’s limited partner base also
included anchor investor LGT and its private banking clients; Bay Trust,
a New Zealand charitable foundation; Carbon Equity, a Netherlands-based climate
technology focused investment platform; GenZero,
an investment platform wholly owned by Singapore’s Temasek; Golding Capital Partners, a European asset manager; Grantham Foundation, a U.S.-based charitable foundation; GULF,
a Thai energy and infrastructure group; Haniel,
a German family-owned investment holding; UNIQA,
an Austrian insurance group; and Wire Group,
a Dutch impact investor.
Lightrock will use the fund to make investments of between €10 million (US$9.79
million) and €40 million (US$39.2 million) in European and North American
growth-stage companies that are innovating towards a net-zero economy and
building an operating system for climate action. It is specifically focused on
four areas: energy transition, decarbonizing industries, sustainable food &
agriculture, and sustainable transportation.
The fund already has made seven investments.
Lightrock is focused on tackling the world’s biggest challenges. Earlier this
year, it closed a Latin America-focused growth fund at $300 million and in 2021,
a growth fund at $900 million.