"UnaTerra And EIT Climate-KIC Join Forces To Bring Transformative Scale To Businesses That Accelerate Climate Action”
Imane Ouaissa
July 12, 2023
UnaTerra Venture Capital Impact Fund and EIT Climate-KIC, Europe’s leading climate innovation agency, have today signed a strategic investment partnership to work together on accelerating climate action with a shared ambition to generate transformative climate impact and respond to the pressing biodiversity loss challenge.
Kirsten Dunlop, CEO of EIT Climate-KIC said:
“We know that a just, climate-resilient, beautiful future is possible. But to get there we need to invest in it. We need to create and connect solutions in integrated ways, and we urgently need to mobilise funds and investors who wish to bring that future into being. We are in a race to limit warming below 2°C. That will only be possible through profoundly transformative innovations in business models and in economic models. We must be bold enough to challenge our own assumptions and ambitious enough to fundamentally transform whole places and ways of living through systems change.
Investing for 1.5C is about making a clear statement that we’re ready to shift mindsets and behaviours not only to limit warming, but to create a world where we thrive. It says that we are willing and able to invest in entrepreneurs who are building the high-impact businesses of the future, reshaping demand for energy and materials. And that we are willing to work collaboratively with like-minded investors to integrate solutions and demonstrate new possibilities.”
UnaTerra joins the EIT Climate-KIC community and provides further momentum to the implementation of the European Green Deal and Horizon Europe Innovation Missions. The collaboration unlocks new innovation opportunities with each organisation bringing unique skills to the partnership.
Luca Zerbini, CEO and Founding Partner of UnaTerra said:
“At UnaTerra we want to scale solutions, at speed, that lift the world out of climate change and biodiversity loss.
This requires investing as a means, not an end, to go where markets have failed and impact has fallen short. Delivering both, a fair financial return, and more importantly, promote and scale prosperity for both people and the planet.
This is why we are excited to partner with EIT Climate-KIC on Investing for 1.5C and we look forward to supporting businesses that genuinely impact climate and biodiversity through this unique partnership.”
Under the partnership, EIT Climate-KIC provides UnaTerra with strategic guidance, climate impact advice, and portfolio shaping support. The initiative includes the generation of a uniquely diverse pipeline of investment opportunities through the ClimAccelerator programme, unparalleled reach across the EU innovation landscape through place-based innovation programmes and systemic impact guidance drawn from across the EIT Climate-KIC network.
UnaTerra brings strategic growth guidance to EIT Climate-KIC supported start-ups that address the joint challenge of climate change and biodiversity loss. UnaTerra aims to inject additional innovation capital and provide scale support to the most promising innovators from across Europe.
UnaTerra and EIT Climate-KIC are working together as part of the new Investing for 1.5C initiative, led by EIT Climate-KIC. UnaTerra joins the EIT Climate-KIC community, providing further momentum to the implementation of the European Green Deal and Horizon Europe Innovation Missions, while EIT Climate-KIC joins the ecosystem of UnaTerra as one of the selected partners for this unique European impact investing platform.