Creas Impacto II Targets €70 Million with Backing from EIF, ICO, Carasso Foundation, and Private Investors
(IN BRIEF) Creas Impacto II, supported by EIF, ICO, the Carasso Foundation, and private investors, targets a €70 million fund size under the InvestEU program. The fund, managed by CREAS, focuses on investing in about 12 growth-stage companies in Spain and Europe, emphasizing sectors like education, inclusive employment, elder care, and climate resilience. It aims to achieve both societal impact and market returns, continuing to attract institutional and private investors across the EU.
(PRESS RELEASE) LUXEMBOURG, 11-Jul-2024— /EuropaWire/ — Creas Impacto II aims for a €70 million fund size, supported by key investors including the EIF, ICO’s Social Impact and Sustainability Initiative, the Carasso Foundation, and various private investors. Under the InvestEU program, EIF leads with a €20 million commitment, marking its second collaboration with CREAS in advancing social impact ventures across Europe.
Focused on nurturing approximately 12 growth-stage companies in Spain and beyond, Creas Impacto II emphasizes sectors such as education, inclusive employment, elder care, and climate resilience. Founded by CREAS, a pioneer in Spanish impact investing, the fund seeks transformative models addressing societal challenges while ensuring market returns.
“Creas Impacto II’s €40 million first closing underscores its strategic importance amidst current economic conditions,” remarked CREAS founder Luis Berruete, highlighting the sector’s growth and impact potential.
Marjut Falkstedt, CEO of EIF, emphasized, “InvestEU’s support reflects our commitment to fostering social inclusion and sustainable economic growth through impactful investments.”
ICO, investing €10 million through AXIS, reinforces its role in Spain’s impact investment ecosystem. José Carlos García de Quevedo, ICO President, emphasized the operation’s significance in promoting public-private collaboration.
Lucía Casani, Director of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation in Spain, expressed their foundation’s commitment to advancing social justice and sustainability through impactful investments.
Creas Impacto II continues to attract institutional and private investors across the EU, aiming to leverage its expertise and partnerships to drive systemic change and long-term value creation.
About the EIF
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe’s micro, small and medium-sized businesses by helping them to access finance. The EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments that specifically target this market segment. In this role, it contributes to the achievement of key EU policy goals such as competitiveness and growth, innovation and digitalisation, social impact, skills and human capital, climate action and environmental sustainability.
About InvestEU
The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps mobilise private investment for EU policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. The InvestEU programme brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments currently available to support investment in the Member States, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners who will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.
About CREAS
Currently, CREAS manages a portfolio of 11 leading innovation and impact companies in its three industry verticals, including Qida, a leading Spanish company transforming home-based care for dependent patients and those in critical condition; Refurbed, a European leader in refurbished electronics marketplaces, transforming consumption towards sustainability; Smileat, Spain’s leading brand of organic baby food, improving children’s health by offering formulas with much lower added sugar and salt; and Mitiga, creator of a software that can calculate the impact of climate change on risk management linked to natural disasters, now aiming to become a global standard in its sector.
CREAS seeks to fill a market gap with low competition — occupying the space between conventional venture capital, which comes in at earlier stages, and private equity, which targets more mature companies.
CREAS will continue working to build a better world through investment by leveraging its extensive experience in fund management, corporate transactions and business growth. At the same time, it will expand its ability to generate value through the impact ecosystem it co-leads, thanks to its network of investors, funds, advisors, CEOs and business experts.
About Axis
AXIS is active in public-private partnerships with the private equity industry in all areas of activity and currently has commitments to manage up to 12.15 billion euros across its four funds: Fond-ICO Global, Fond-ICO Next Tech, Fond-ICO Pyme, and Fond-ICO Sustainability and Infrastructures. These commitments will jointly mobilise public and private resources of more than 24 billion euros over the next five years, depending on the private sector’s capacity to absorb resources and deliver projects.
Media Contacts:
EIF:
Maite Cordero
m.corderomunoz@eib.org
Tel.:: +34 606 66 82 62
Website: www.eif.org | X: @eif_eu
CREAS:
Marta Montesinos
mmontesinos@quum.com
Tel.: +34 670 727 564
Lara Viada
lara.viada@creas.es
Tel.: +34 669 87 23 04
ICO
Begoña Amores
begonia.amores@ico.es
Tel.: 91 5921641 – 669.74.75.63
SOURCE: European Investment Fund
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