Circular economy needs scale – Closed Loop Venture Group has $ 50 million to help

As 2021 draws to a close, Closed Loop Partners’ venture capital group – the Closed Loop Business Group – reports that it has closed its Venture Fund II, which is backed by investors such as Microsoft and Autodesk Foundation. An executive at Closed Loop Partners said the investment arm exceeded its target of $ 50 million for the fund, but did not disclose by how much.

“The fact that [the fund is] oversubscribed through our $ 50 million goal is indicative of the direction the industry is taking and demand from not only investors but also the larger macro environment that recognizes circularity as part of the business. industry of the future and that we are all working to evolve it together, ”said Danielle Joseph, Managing Director of Closed Loop Partners.

With the fund closing, the group is turning its attention to investing in the next generation of circular businesses and supporting their founders, Joseph said.

Closed Loop Ventures Group invests in seed and pre-seed companies that focus on developing the circular economy.

The fact that [the fund is] Oversubscribed through our target of $ 50 million is indicative of the direction of the industry and not just investor demand.

It was the same approach for Venture Fund I, which has 19 portfolio companies representing the same sectors that Closed Loop Partners seeks to finance with the second fund – plastics and packaging, food and agriculture, fashion and clothing, and transparency and logistics.

Algram, a Chilean start-up that is tackling the “poverty tax” that some families pay for everyday goods – like laundry detergents – by making reuse accessible, Thrilling, a resale startup that partners with thrift and vintage stores to increase their reach using an online marketplace, and The renewal workshop, which partners with brands and retailers to give clothing a second life through resale, is on the list of companies to receive funding from the first venture capital fund.

“A lot of them are moving on to their Series A, some of them to their Series B or later. We’re excited to grow up with them,” said Joseph.

In addition to monetary financing, Closed Loop Partners also leverages the knowledge and expertise of its investors – and the challenges they face – to make better investment decisions.

“Our investor mix is ​​actually, I think, a unique combination of individual investors, family offices and corporate sponsors who have invested directly in the fund vehicle as traditional sponsors,” said Joseph.

Contributors to the fund include the Autodesk Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Autodesk. The foundation also contributed to Venture Fund I.

“We are proud to have been an early investor in the Closed Loop Ventures group and we are redoubling our commitment to help evolve new design and manufacturing approaches that make end-to-end circularity possible,” said Joe Speicher, executive director of the Autodesk Foundation and head of sustainability at Autodesk, said in a statement.

Another reputable funder is Microsoft.

“Our investment in Ventures Group’s Fund II is a key part of our efforts towards our 2030 zero waste goals, driven by innovators and emerging companies who help make this possible,” said Brandon Middaugh of Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. , an investor in Closed Loop Partners funds, in a statement.

What we want to see is that we are not the only dedicated fund in the space, as we are today, to invest in these companies in the start-up phase of the circular economy.

Fund II has already invested in 10 companies. There are grimace, a Startup based in Israel focused on roasting zero pollution coffee on demand, and Partimony, which aims to create cognitive supply chains and increase the efficiency of companies and hardware manufacturers.

There is also ucrop.it, an application-based platform that aims to help farmers who use various sustainability practices to receive better prices business customers. When farmers share their information about the crop cycle of their operations on the platform, potential customers can see it in the form of a log saved on the blockchain, which helps them verify farmers’ sustainability practices and offer better payments. Dimpora, which develops waterproof clothing membranes that do not contain per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFCS) commonly found in winter clothing and have been linked to risks to human health, also received funding from the Ventures group.

In 2022, the fund plans to make more investments (Joseph noted that companies interested in funding are always welcome to apply to the website) and wants to see even more investments in companies focused on building a circular economy.

“What we want to see is that we are not the only dedicated fund in the space, as we are today, to invest in these circular economy start-ups,” said Joseph. “But rather that we invite the broader business ecosystem to participate alongside us, and independently of us, to truly accelerate the transition from this linear economy to a more circular economy.”