Dutch VC Inkef Capital has lost the support of its only investor and founding partner, Dutch pension fund ABP. The VC, which was expecting further support from its LP, won’t be receiving any more capital for its current fund (apart from the already committed capital).
The pension fund, which is one of Europe’s biggest with €450bn under management, has decided to discontinue its investments in Inkef to focus on climate investments.
Inkef, which splits its investments more or less equally between healthtech and other kinds of tech, has raised €500m in total, receiving the last €300m in 2017.
Since launching in 2010, Inkef has invested in 51 startups, with 17 exits. Its portfolio includes remote work platforms GitLab and Remote, and cancer treatment startup Precirix.
None of its current investments are at risk as a result of ABP’s change of heart, however. According to a source close to the investor, Inkef still has enough capital to make follow-on investments in its portfolio companies for the next five years.
Climate tech focus
ABP’s decision comes after the pension fund published an updated climate policy in December 2022, in line with the Paris Agreement. It outlines plans to invest €10bn over the next seven years on climate change and nature and biodiversity conservation.
Inkef’s 17-person team were “enormously disappointed by the decision” made by the LP, says the source close to the company.
Climate tech funds have been popping up all over Europe recently. Germany unveiled a new €1bn fund for climate tech and deeptech, Poland’s state-owned fund of funds PFR Ventures has invested €55m across four green VC funds, Planet First Partners announced a new €450m fund and Berlin-based Planet A closed its first fund at €160m, for science-based climate investments.
European pension funds are large LPs in many European VC funds, such as Northzone and Creandum, and some — including the Swedish pension fund AMF — have even started to do direct investments in scaleups like battery company Northvolt.
Most, however, seem to be quite hands-off when it comes to the investment strategies of the VCs they invest in — unlike ABP.
“At least they [ABP] walk the talk,” the source close to Inkef told Sifted.
If other big LPs started making the same demands on the funds they invest in as ABP, the impact on the European investment landscape would be massive.
Inkef declined to comment. ABP confirmed that it is not renewing its commitments to Inkef.
Mimi Billing is Sifted’s Nordic correspondent and tweets from @MimiBilling
