SWEN Blue Ocean 2 secures €160 million, over half its €300 million target, demonstrating strong global investor demand.
Fund focuses on combating overfishing, pollution, and climate change to regenerate ocean biodiversity.
Strategy links impactful environmental solutions with competitive financial returns, attracting institutional and new investors.
SWEN Capital Partners, a leader in responsible investment, announced the first close of its SWEN Blue Ocean 2 fund at €160 million, aiming to raise €300 million. This positions it as the world’s largest impact venture fund dedicated to ocean biodiversity regeneration—surpassing the initial €170 million raised by the inaugural Blue Ocean fund and signaling growing investor appetite.
The fund targets start-ups delivering innovative solutions to three existential threats to oceans: overfishing, pollution, and climate change. It has secured commitments from a broad investor base including pension funds, insurance companies, banks, and family offices, with notable LPs such as EIF, France 2030, Bpifrance, and Macif among others.
Jérôme Delmas, CEO of SWEN Capital Partners, emphasized the fund’s mission-driven approach:
“The SWEN Blue Ocean strategy fully embodies the Mission we have set for ourselves: putting investment at the service of Nature. We are acutely aware of the responsibility we bear as investors… projects that can make a tangible contribution to the regeneration of marine biodiversity.”
He added that the fund’s success relies on the expertise of the Blue Ocean team and investor trust to accelerate solutions addressing this urgent systemic challenge.
Co-Managing Director Christian Lim highlighted the growing global momentum for ocean protection:
“Ocean action is growing in importance on the global stage, with the international community, governments and companies working together to prioritise ocean protection. The start-up ecosystem plays an important role in this effort, providing innovative solutions to transform massive industries at scale and at pace.”
RELATED ARTICLE: XOCEAN Secures €115 Million to Boost Global Ocean Data Platform
Olivier Raybaud, Co-Managing Director, stressed the fund’s appeal to investors seeking impact with returns:
“Our strategy demonstrates the link between impact and highly competitive returns, which is an attractive proposition for investors… With this latest fund, we will bring scale to a proven strategy, allowing us to take a lead role on more investments globally.”
SWEN Blue Ocean 2 will mainly invest in Series A rounds with an expanded geographic scope—up to 30% of capital can be deployed outside Europe, responding to significant global ocean biodiversity needs. The larger fund size enables SWEN to lead investments with tickets up to €12 million.
The original Blue Ocean fund is fully allocated, having exited two investments and returned capital at competitive rates, with an 18-company portfolio.
SWEN has also expanded its Blue Ocean team to nine professionals, combining expertise across investment, science, industry, and policy. Beyond investing, SWEN co-founded ‘1000 Ocean Start-ups,’ a coalition supporting ocean innovation with nearly 50 members aiming to scale 1,000 transformative start-ups by 2031. SWEN collaborates with partners including Ifremer, BlueInvest, and ChangeNow to strengthen the ocean sustainability ecosystem.
SWEN Blue Ocean 2 marks a pivotal milestone in deploying capital to regenerate ocean health—critical for investors aligned with ESG mandates and global sustainability priorities.
Follow ESG News on LinkedIn
