Emerald is one of the first venture capital firms to focus on sustainable industrial innovation.
From intelligent water efficiency, to smart packaging, to innovations in electrification of transport and industrial automation, Emerald has been at the forefront of sustainability for many years.
- 2000: Emerald was founded as the venture capital arm of Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), creator of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, with a presence in Europe and North America. We launched our first sustainability fund with €100 million assets under management.
- 2007: After separating from SAM, we rebranded as Emerald Technology Ventures. Venture money started pouring into cleantech investments, and we maintained our focus on sustainable industrial technologies with proven market demand.
- 2008-9: The financial crisis severely impacted the VC market. With a solid track record of minimizing risk and ensuring co-investment with dedicated partners, we weathered the storm.
- 2014: We won a mandate from the Swiss government to manage its Technology Fund, which has grown into a CHF 350 million debt guarantee program for cleantech-related SMEs. The Fund now serves as a model for governments around the world looking to foster a homegrown cleantech innovation ecosystem.
- 2016: In a universe of exclusively fixed-term VC funds, we launched the first flex-term (“evergreen”) fund, responding to interest from partners in maintaining open-ended relationships rather than terminating them at arbitrary deadlines.
- 2018: We won our first mandate to manage an external corporate VC organization, with Nabtesco Technology Ventures.
- 2020: We established our first Asia office in Singapore and launched our dedicated water fund, focusing on alleviating growing stress in managing the world’s most valuable resource. The next few years would see a series of specialist funds emerge focused exclusively on specific challenges in industrial sustainability.
- 2021: We launched a dedicated energy fund, capitalizing on the $4 trillion that the world needs to invest in energy-sector decarbonization every year to 2030 in order to reach net-zero emissions by midcentury.
- 2022: We launched our dedicated packaging fund, taking aim at a significant source of waste and capitalizing on the growing demand to replace plastic in the environment.
A longstanding commitment to sustainability
Our roots in sustainability are among the deepest in the investment community. Having been on the ground floor of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, we take a pragmatic, results-focused approach toward sustainable investing that is linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Our mission is to seek out returns for our limited partners while simultaneously making a positive impact on the world—doing well by doing good.