Our recent most significant contribution to the environmental sustainability is the launch of BaltCap Infrastructure Fund. It is a new €103 investment fund established in June 2017 that is backed by European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) and Baltic pension funds (for further information please see http://baltcap.com/news/2017/100-million-baltcap-fund-will-invest-into-infrastructure-of-the-baltic-states, http://www.baltcap.com/press/news/more-steam-for-baltcap-infrastructure-fund-ebrd-invests-20-million).
BaltCap Infrastructure Fund primarily focuses on providing development capital for transport, renewable energy, energy efficiency and municipal infrastructure projects in the Baltic states. Infrastructure development is one of the key priority areas for the Baltic region to improve competitiveness, independency and meet environmental targets. At the same time the Baltic countries are facing an estimated funding gap of €6 billion for infrastructure projects. With the strong support from international financial institutions and local pension funds we can address this funding gap. It is the first time in the region when the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian pension fund assets will be deployed to develop infrastructure for future generations. What is equally important, the fund will create new jobs and by its focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency it will significantly contribute to the climate change agenda.
At the beginning of 2019, BaltCap together with JBIC IG Partners (a Japanese government backed private equity and venture capital firm) established a new €100m fund focusing on venture capital investments in the Nordic and Baltic region. It targets the so-called New Nordics which in addition to traditional Nordic countries also includes Estonia and other Baltic states. The Fund is called NordicNinja.vc and it focuses on early stage investments into ICT/Deep Tech sectors, including Autonomous Mobility, Digital Health, AR/VR/MR, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and IoT.
NordicNinja.vc investors include large Japanese technology corporations like Honda, Omron and others. The Fund utilizes global network in Tallinn, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tokyo.
In October 2019, BaltCap held the first close of BaltCap Private Equity Fund III (BPEF III) at €126 million, being above the initially targeted size subscribed by the existing investor base. The new fund will continue the proven and successful buy-and-build strategy of its predecessor funds, BPEF I and BPEF II, by making equity investments in mature innovative enterprises to build them into business champions.The new fund will aim to make 8 to 10 platform investments in the Baltic and Nordic countries with enterprise values of these companies typically being between €10 to €50 million and the fund’s equity investment between €10 to €20 million. The new fund broadens the scope of BaltCap target markets - in addition to the Baltics, which have been the core region for BaltCap, the fund will also focus on Finnish and Swedish companies with a Baltic nexus. The Nordic and Baltic economies are increasingly forming a larger, integrated market - the New Nordics - with enhanced business opportunities. BPEF III expects to be one of the facilitators of further business integration in the New Nordics. The investors committing to the fund include the European Investment Fund (EIF) investing partially through Baltic Innovation Fund 2 (an initiative created by cooperation between the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania and EIF), the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), LHV pension funds, SEB pension funds from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, eQ Asset Management and also family offices. New Nordics as a concept includes the traditional Nordic countries – Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland – and the three Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Together these countries form a dynamically growing, technology-driven and diverse, yet synergy-providing business environment that opens up innovative business possibilities.