Sustainability

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Mohit Goel is one of India’s youngest real estate tycoons and an angel investor. He appeared as one of a panel of potential investors on the India reality TV show The Vault,  which features start-ups pitching their business ideas to angel investors in order to seek funding. Goel is CEO of Omaxe, a real estate firm based in New Delhi. As the second-generation head of the company, he was credited for structural changes aimed at turning the firm around amidst challenging market conditions and introducing fresh concepts and customer-centric ideas to strengthen the business. Goel is also the north zone head of CREDAI Youth Wing, an industry body bringing together the next generation of leaders in India’s real estate and property developer market. In 2014, he was named Young Male Entrepreneur of the Year at the Infra & Realty Sutra Awards and also received the Young Achiever’s Award at ABP News’ Real Estate Awards.

Orkla ASA is an Oslo-based supplier of branded consumer products to major markets in the Nordic and Baltic regions and Central Europe. Selected product categories are also available in India, known as MTR Foods brand. Popular brands include Felix, Toro, Panda and Abba.Originally founded in 1654, Orkla is one of Norway’s oldest business conglomerates and became public-listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ORKLY) in 1929. Orkla Foods accounts for 39% of the group’s operating revenues. Two other subsidiaries, Orkla Care and Orkla Food Ingredients generate about 43% of the group’s operating revenues. The Orkla Confectionery & Snacks division contributes about 15%.

Founded in 2003 in New York, Vast Ventures has invested in over 70 early-stage companies, with a focus on companies tackling global problems or which are rooted in sustainability. It has managed 22 exits to date. It currently has 45 companies in its portfolio, the overwhelming majority of which are based in the Americas. Its most recent investments include participation in the May 2021 $8m seed round for Chilean rental management proptech player Houm, as well as the April 2021 $17m Series A round of MedChart, a Canadian healthcare data systems startup.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a Hollywood actor and angel investor, who runs his own charitable foundation in aid of climate action, wildlife protection, and ecosystems and communities under threat. Since 1998, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has invested more than $100m in some 132 organizations worldwide, the majority of which are charities. DiCaprio has also invested in 12 for-profit companies in recent years. The most recent of these investments include his 2018 participation in the Series A round for Magnus, an app that has been called Shazam for art, as well as a 4Q17 investment in Swiss deeptech player and provider of VR and AR applications technology, MindMaze.

Google co-founder Larry Page is controlling shareholder of Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company. As of June 2021, Page’s net worth was $106.2bn, making him the sixth richest person in the world. To date, he has made disclosed investments in five tech companies. The two most recent were both in 2016: an undisclosed quantum of investment in US-based electric personal aircraft startup Kitty Hawk Corporation, as well as participation in space mining company Planetary Resources’ $21m Series A round. 

Capricorn Investment Group is one of the world’s largest mission-aligned investment companies, managing more than $6bn in multi-asset class portfolios for families, foundations and institutional investors.  Notably, it manages the investment portfolio of Jeff Skoll, the first President of eBay, and his charitable organization. The company has offices in Silicon Valley and New York. It has invested in 63 companies to date, many aimed at tackling key challenges facing our world today. It has managed 14 exits to date, including Tesla. Its main focus is on technology and sustainability, with a particular interest in deeptech, aerospace, transport, agtech, healthcare and energy. The firm’s most recent disclosed investments were in May 2021, via participation in the $100m Series B round of Canadian quantum computing startup Xanadu and the $28m Series B round of US geothermal tech company Fervo Energy.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is an international NGO operating across over 100 countries with projects initially focused on the protection of endangered species, which later expanded into other areas like the preservation of biological diversity, protection of natural resources, and the mitigation of climate change. It is considered the world's largest conservation organization, working with a network of different NGOs, governments, scientists, companies, local communities, investment banks, fishermen and farmers. The WWF was founded in 1961 and 55% of its funding comes from individuals and bequests, 19% from government sources, and 8% from corporations. With more than $1bn in investment capital, WWF has supported more than 12,000 conservation initiatives with over 5m supporters worldwide. The institution has been often criticized for not campaigning objectively because of its strong ties with multinational corporations such as Coca-Cola, Lafarge, and IKEA. In 2019 the institution reported 4% of its total operating revenue coming from corporations. 

Sky Ocean Ventures is a £25m impact investment fund and part of the Sky Media Group. It was launched in 2018 with the goal of accelerating businesses that can tackle global plastic pollution with innovative ideas and disruptive technologies. The firm has backed 20 startups that have developed solutions that help mitigate plastic disposals in the environment, such as disposable bottles made of paper, reusable delivery boxes, sachets made from seaweed and packaging made from wood chips. Sky Ocean Ventures also partners with, among others, The National Geographic and the Imperial College in London. 

Spanish-born Juan Verde Suárez is an internationally-renowned strategist for both the public and private sectors, focusing on sustainable economic development. Based in the US, he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia at the US Department of Commerce during the Obama presidency. He was also the campaign fundraising manager during the 2020 US elections for President Joe Biden.As an angel investor, Verde’s only disclosed investment is his participation in the €10m Series A funding round of Scoobic Urban Mobility in 2021. Besides joining as a board director of the Spanish e-scooter startup, Verde is also head of the Madrid-based Álamo Solutions, a sustainable business development consulting firm.

Based in Brussels, Astanor Ventures is an impact investor specializing in foodtech, agritech and blue ocean economy with focus on the environment and sustainability. Founded in 2017 by Eric Archambeau and George Coelho, Astanor has invested in more than 20 startups in Europe and the US. Archambeau and Coelho launched Balderton Capital in Europe and were early investors in Spotify, Betfair and LoveFilm.Astanor invests according to the principles for responsible investment (PRI), prioritizing technology-led solutions that connect the value chain, innovate on nutrition and accelerate regenerative agriculture. In November 2020, the firm closed fundraising for its $325m Global Impact Fund focused on food and agriculture technology that comply with the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Lupa Systems is a private investment company with offices in New York and Mumbai. It was founded in 2019 by Rupert Murdoch’s son James Murdoch with $2bn funding from the overall $71bn sales of the family's 21st Century Fox empire to Disney.Lupa focuses on tech companies in the media industry, as well as impact-driven startups focused on environmental sustainability and emerging markets, particularly in Asia. According to a recent report, Lupa is looking to launch new funds, raising about $150m for each fund from family offices in India. The firm has invested in about 12 companies to date.

London-based Sustainability Ventures is one of the UK’s leading early-stage investors in Cleantech. It comprises a group of successful entrepreneurs with a track record in building and investing in high-growth start-ups. It has created Europe’s largest ecosystem for cleantech and sustainability startups, as a business founder and investor, provider of accelerator and support services and provider of shared workspaces. Active since 2011, Sustainability Ventures has raised £250m in total equity funds to date. Its focus is on agritech and food, building technology, circular economy, future energy and mobility. It has established 10 companies, invested in 30 and supported the development of over 250 more enterprises as of 2021 and aims to develop 1,000 sustainable startups by 2025.  

H&M Foundation is a non-profit foundation established in 2013. It is privately funded by the Stefan Persson family, the founders and major shareholders of the H&M Group, who have donated SEK 1.5 billion to it to date. The foundation aims to help accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030, by developing, funding and sharing solutions to address the world’s most urgent issues. It has a particular focus on promoting a planet-positive fashion industry and on building inclusive societies.Tackling mostly challenges associated with the fast fashion industry and its supply chain, H&M Foundation advocates for more sustainable practices across the fashion value chain and more inclusive business practices. The foundation is also actively involved in providing emergency relief for natural disasters or pandemics. It also aims to encourage innovation that promotes social change and sustainability. To this end, it provides startups support in accelerating and scale new technologies. It also runs the Global Change Award. Dubbed the Nobel Prize of fashion, this aims to recognise disruptive innovations that have the potential to make fashion more sustainable, and transform the way garments are designed, produced, shipped, bought, used and recycled. 

The British F1 racing driver and five-time FIA Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton has started to promote veganism and sustainable lifestyles, investing in several technology startups that develop solutions in that field.In 2019 he launched  Neat Meat, the British vegan fast casual chain, in collaboration with The Cream Group, UNICEF Ambassadors and early investor in Beyond Meat Tommaso Chiabra. More recently he participated in a Series D funding round backing NotCo, the first Chilean unicorn selling plant-based food and beverage products across Latin America and the US.Hamilton is actively fighting to promote sustainable and eco-friendly practices across industries. In 2019 he also pushed Mercedes-Benz to discuss the possibility of including animal-free interiors in their cars. On that he said: I want to be part of a system that is going to help heal the world and do something positive for the future.”

Future Positive Capital is a Paris-based VC with a second office in London. Its investments cover deep-technology companies applying AI, biotechnology, synthetic biology, as well as robotics. Co-funded in 2016 by ex-Index Ventures associate Sofia Hmich along with Alexandre Terrien and Michael Rosen; it has made 18 investments to date. In 2019 Future Positive raised over $57m pan-European impact investment fund, claiming that most European VCs are continuing to staying focused on sectors, such as consumer, fintech, and marketing, or web and mobile technologies. Future Positive’s belief is that there is instead, a long-tail of investment opportunities to back businesses that actually tackle “the world’s most pressing problems”.Through this fund, it will back throughout Seed and Series A stages, with the possibility to follow up on Series B investing between around €300,000 and €5m. Since then the company has backed startups in the like of BioBeats, an AI company focused on preventative mental health, cell-based startup Meatable, and more recently NotCo, the Chilean unicorn disrupting the food and beverage sector with AI-enabled plant-based products.The team counts on an extensive network of mentors, innovators, impact angel investors and entrepreneurs such as F1 pilots Nico Rosberg, the MD of Alibaba France Sebastien Badault, the Omid Ashtari the President of Citymapper amongst others.

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