Western Europe

The London-based venture philanthropy fund has launched with $27 million and expects to close on $40 million by the end of the year.

LPs include Mubadala Investment Co, tech investor Yuri Milner, Bolt Ventures, Boxfish Corp, Ferguson Capital II, Lakefield Enterprises III, NJF Capital Corp and RIT Capital Partners.

Rodriguez is the CEO of cybersecurity network SINET.

Ventech's focus on generating liquidity for its LPs has helped the firm close on 'roughly two-thirds' of the €225m target for its sixth flagship fund, says president Jean Bourcereau.

Pelican is targeting a return of 4x capital and plans to back between 20 and 30 companies across pre-seed, seed and Series A rounds.

Faisal Butt, founder of Pi Labs, has seen a 'dramatic improvement' in caliber of founder and number of companies in the proptech sustainability space.

Venture firms worldwide closed on $15bn in the first quarter. It was their smallest fundraising haul since Q3 of 2017.

With more than 25% of total capital invested in European tech companies going to the carbon and energy sector, sustainability-focused start-ups have attracted tech workers from other parts of the world.