Paris-based SWEN Capital Partners has raised €160 million in the first close of its SWEN Blue Ocean 2 fund. This represents 53% of the fund’s overall €300 million target which it says is the world’s largest ocean impact venture fund. The fund will invest in innovative start-ups working to support the regeneration of ocean biodiversity.
The company raised €170 million in its inaugural Blue Ocean fund. The fund will invest in start-ups that help tackle three existential threats affecting ocean biodiversity: over-fishing, pollution, and climate change. SWEN Blue Ocean 2 is an impact fund and has been classified as Article 9 under the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
SWEN saw significant investor interest for SWEN Blue Ocean 2 from across the world, including institutional investors like pension funds, insurance companies, banks, and family offices. Notable LPs include EIF (European Investment Fund), France 2030, Bpifrance, Macif, Abeille Assurances, Matmut, Suravenir, Mutuelle de Poitiers and CPSTI (Conseil de la Protection Sociale des Travailleurs Indépendants).
“The SWEN Blue Ocean strategy fully embodies the Mission we have set for ourselves: putting investment at the service of Nature,” Jérôme Delmas, CEO of SWEN Capital Partners, said. “We are acutely aware of the responsibility we bear as investors, and of the role we can play by supporting high-impact projects with strong transformative potential — projects that can make a tangible contribution to the regeneration of marine biodiversity.”
SWEN Blue Ocean Fund 2 will invest primarily in Series A funding rounds with a focus on companies in Europe. However, its scope to invest in the rest-of-the-world has increased since the first generation, with 30% of the fund’s capital now able to be deployed outside of Europe, where SWEN Blue Ocean has identified a significant need for ocean biodiversity regeneration solutions. The larger fund size compared to Blue Ocean will also enable SWEN CP to take more lead positions at Series A stage, with the ability to write first tickets of up to €12 million.
“Our strategy demonstrates the link between impact and highly competitive returns, which is an attractive proposition for investors,” Olivier Raybaud, Co-Managing Director of SWEN Blue Ocean, said. “We have seen renewed interest from existing Blue Ocean investors and have also had many significant new investors commit to the Fund. With this latest fund, we will bring scale to a proven strategy, allowing us to take a lead role on more investments globally and support even more companies.”
Blue Ocean is fully allocated. The fund has exited two investments and has 18 portfolio companies.
Beyond its investment strategy, SWEN is also helping to build out the global innovation ecosystem for ocean regeneration, having co-founded ‘1000 Ocean Start-ups‘ in 2021, which has since grown to about 50 members. The coalition brings together incubators, accelerators, matching platforms and venture capital investors to scale at least 1000 transformative start-ups by 2031. In addition, SWEN Capital Partners is working alongside a number of other ocean sustainability organisations, including Ifremer, BlueInvest and ChangeNow.
