WHEB Ventures closes £100M cleantech fund

Funding opportunity

WHEB Ventures, one of Europe’s leading clean technology private equity firms, has announced the fourth closing of its second clean technology fund, WHEB Ventures Private Equity Fund 2 LP, at £100.3 million. The fund attracted substantial support from family offices and financial institutions.

WHEB Fund 2’s new commitments include one from HPE Environmental Innovation Fund, managed by Hermes GPE LLP. Hermes was selected to be one of the fund-of-funds managers of the UK Innovation Investment Fund, which was established in January this year to invest in low carbon and clean technology funds and to co-invest in companies. The European Investment Fund is also among the institutional investors.

James McNaught-Davis, WHEB’s Managing Partner, said, “We are delighted with the progress of our fund raising to date. WHEB is one of very few European VC firms to have raised capital during the last eighteen months, a very challenging period for fund raising”. He added, “We are particularly pleased to be the first cleantech fund to receive an allocation from Hermes GPE’s Environmental Innovation Fund.”

WHEB Fund 2 has made five investments since its first closing in July 2008. These investments address markets in the energy efficiency, green industrial processes and waste management sectors. WHEB Ventures is supported by the European Union through the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.

For more information, visit http://www.whebventures.com