Global warming has been an issue for decades. As each day passes, there is an increasing urgency to reverse and prevent further damage to the climate. We impact the world with everything we do. This includes the milk we drink, how we travel, and what we do with the waste from our homes such as packaging and plastics.
Many, many statistics online show the environmental disarray the world is in.
As we invest in scale-up businesses around Europe, Bootstrap considers how each business will impact the environment. Many industries are going through a transformation now, with process efficiency making it to the top of every business’s to-do list. Many sectors are rethinking the way they source, process, ship and build services and products, ensuring that their environmental footprint decreases.
At the end of 2020, we had the privilege of participating in the brilliant CleanTech Flattening the Climate Curve LP/GP Investor Summit.
The summit was organised by the non-profit organisation, Techleap.nl, and was followed by the launch of a new task force to engage in international collaboration and best practices in the field of co-financing, focusing on the value of Fund-of-Funds in an international context. The task force consists of a diverse group of investors with long-standing experience in the European venture market, of which Bootstrap Europe will be a part of.
Bootstrap co-founder and Managing Partner, Fatou Diagne, took part in one of the bilateral discussions which included the likes of impact investor Brabant Development Agency (BOM), global early-stage venture firm DN Capital, HPE Growth, Invest-NL; a private impact investor committed to businesses and projects that will make the Netherlands more sustainable and innovative, MN; on behalf of the pension funds PMT and PME, one of the largest pension administrators and asset managers in the Dutch pension market, lifecycle financier InnovationQuarter, Rabo Corporate Investments, and international venture capital firm Vickers Venture Partners.
These leading investors agreed to join a task force to engage in international collaboration to curb climate change.
Fatou tells us of her participation: “It’s a joy to be providing finance to so many exciting businesses across Europe, yet it comes with great responsibility. From our standpoint, we want to make sure that every business we work with is doing their bit for the planet. We all have a duty to take care of this world, and in turn, so does every business in all aspects of their operations. That’s why we’re proud to be a part of such a remarkable initiative with Techleap.NL, where Bootstrap promises to ensure that each business on our portfolio meets our environmental standards in place”.
Businesses with an ESG focus led to better returns throughout the pandemic, and it seems that this trend is here to stay. Venture debt funds and investors are increasingly looking at how the businesses they place their money with are impacting the world positively, ensuring that they look at the environmental, social and governance aspects of each potential investment.
At Bootstrap Europe, we invest in scale-ups who are disrupting industries known for inefficient processes and waste, and who are actively working to make these industries more environmentally conscious. Scale-ups we support who are active in this area include Voltea, FittingBox, E-leather and CloudNC.
You can find out more about Techleap.nl’s CleanTech Flattening the Climate Curve LP/GP Investor Summit and Bootstrap’s participation at Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Business Insider — Market Insider and PR Newswire.
Bootstrap Europe supports thriving industries across the globe, from green energy and genetic testing to SaaS, fintech and smarter city solutions; the team’s collective experience has ensured that the fund includes some of Europe’s fastest, socially-focused scale-up businesses.
To find out more about how Bootstrap Europe helps scale-up businesses, you can visit our website here.
For publications and event organisers looking for comment and participation on venture debt, investment in scale-ups, and the current venture debt/scale-up landscape in the UK and Europe please get in touch at [email protected].
Plus, to hear more about Fatou Diagne’s and Stephanie Heller’s journey building Bootstrap Europe, and how they have turned this scale-up-centric business into one of Europe’s most promising venture debt funds, we’d love to hear from you.
