Industrial biotechnology startup investment

The company should operate in industrial biotechnology, have its core activity in North-Western Europe and be at pre-seed or early stage: developing and testing the technology and business before larger growth investment. Capricorn seeks a visionary entrepreneur and unique, defensible intellectual-property potential—a technological advantage the business can protect. A concept-stage venture, incomplete team or unfinished business plan can still be discussed if the opportunity has merit.

Each investment must support at least one environmental objective and a relevant UN Sustainable Development Goal. These objectives include renewable resources or replacing harmful substances, using materials, water or land more efficiently, reducing climate-changing emissions, or innovation for future food systems and circular production. Explain the practical benefit your product or process creates.

The company must avoid significant environmental or social harm and follow responsible governance. Assessment covers human and labour rights, no forced or child labour, non-discrimination, environmental responsibility and anti-corruption, alongside management, employee treatment, remuneration, tax compliance and necessary permits.

The fund-specific exclusions cover weapons, coal and coal-based energy, nuclear-energy production, unconventional oil and gas, tobacco, gambling, adult entertainment and alcohol production, plus human cloning and traditional transport, agriculture, fisheries/aquaculture, maritime, coal and steel sectors. Biotechnology, hazardous chemicals, GMOs, animal testing and potential military dual use receive particular risk scrutiny; these attention areas are not all automatic bans. Animal testing can, for example, be necessary in pharmaceutical development.

The manager’s current policy also excludes fossil-fuel power generation and companies developing new exploration, extraction, distribution or refining projects for coal, lignite, oil or gas. For hard coal or lignite used in power generation, it also excludes companies developing new projects for, or lacking a phase-out plan for, exploration, mining, extraction, distribution, refining or exploitation. It excludes dual-use investments where military application is the main investment purpose and screens controlled entities as well as the company itself.

A separate indirect-involvement rule permits at most 40% of a company’s activities in products or services dedicated to excluded activities, such as supplying components or dedicated services. The company must have a strategy to reduce negative impacts and grow positive activities. Fund-specific exclusions still apply.

Expect sustainability targets and follow-up. The fund identifies one to four indicators suited to the company’s core activity and monitors progress, with annual reporting. Separately, the fund must periodically use adverse-impact indicators to check negative environmental and social effects and demonstrate that an investment does not cause significant harm. This includes the mandatory indicator set in its disclosure and relevant additional company-specific indicators. It recognises that very early companies may lack data and resources, so it works with them to improve measurement rather than promising that every impact can always be quantified.

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Send an investment proposal to proposals@capricorn.be. You can also use the manager’s Submit your pitch form, selecting Cleantech and identifying this fund. The form asks about the company, sector, location, fundraising and revenue, and accepts a pitch deck up to 10 MB.

Assessment progresses from intake and team screening to increasingly detailed technical, commercial, financial, legal and sustainability checks and an investment decision. Unacceptable risks that cannot be mitigated can stop the process. Where concerns can be corrected, the investor agrees an improvement plan with the company as part of the conditions for completing the investment.