February 8, 2023
We proudly present our sixth fund: the StartGreen Transition Fund (SGTF). The SFTG focuses on accelerating the Dutch energy transition by financing regional energy projects. The fund, which aims for a size of 200 million euros, is now open to investors. The fund is expected to start financing projects from the fourth quarter of this year. The StartGreen Transition Fund, like the other funds of StartGreen Capital, is one of the highest category (9) sustainable funds according to the SFDR.
Reason for establishment
The Netherlands has an ambitious climate goal: by 2030 70 percent of all electricity must be renewable. To achieve this, tens of billions of euros in financing are needed for projects in the generation, saving, storage and use of sustainable energy. While banks finance a smaller share of the development of energy projects than before. Moreover, the desire to be energy independent is greater than ever due to the high energy prices and the war in Ukraine.
Close funding gap
Anouk Blüm, Managing Partner of StartGreen Capital: 'Due to inflation and the scaling back of the SDE subsidy, banks now often only finance a limited share of sustainable energy projects. Previously, this share could be as high as 95 percent. We want to help meet this financing demand, so that project developers and local energy cooperatives can still realize their projects. From our other funds we have been successfully financing these types of projects in Overijssel and Noord-Holland for over ten years. It therefore seemed logical to us to deploy that experience and knowledge to make the acceleration of the energy transition possible in time in the rest of the Netherlands.'
Debt fund for local projects
StartGreen has the organization and team in place and is conducting exploratory talks with a number of institutional investors. The fund will be a debt fund and will provide mainly junior loans to regional energy projects. These projects focus on: generation, storage and saving of energy, but also, for example, on greening mobility via charging stations and on making buildings more sustainable. Because the fund has a low risk profile, offers a stable return and also helps to achieve climate goals, Stijn Welage and Erhan Yildiz, the investment directors of the fund, expect to be able to finance the first projects this year.
Stijn Welage: 'Consumers are becoming more and more assertive. This also applies to members of pension funds and endowment insurance: they want to see that their retirement savings are invested usefully, so that their children and grandchildren can also look forward to a bright, green future. With the StartGreen Transition Fund, institutional investors can show that they are making a double impact: both financially and socially.'
Erhan Yildiz: 'With the StartGreen Transition Fund we make a major, tangible impact on a local level. We want to link local institutional investors to local entrepreneurs to enable the transition to a sustainable future together. The need now seems greater than ever given the amount of projects we see looking for a financing solution.'
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