More and more companies have already moved into business that promotes a circular economy. However, these new kinds of business opportunities cannot be realised without suitable funding. A new international circular economy fund is now available for this purpose, and Sitra is among the first to have invested in it.

Circularity Capital is a fund management company that specialises in the circular economy; its founders include Jamie Butterworth, who has previously led the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, among other things. The Circularity European Growth Fund I LP managed by the company has now reached the £60 million that was its maximum goal. The registered office of the fund is in Edinburgh, Scotland. It invests in circular economy companies in Europe that are at the growth stage, and it also seeks investments in Finland.

The circular economy fund has already made three investments. They are in Winnow Solutions, which reduces food waste, in Grover, which offers consumer product rental services, and, the latest, in the online shopping customer returns management service ZigZag Global.

Sitra has made an investment commitment of £1.5 million in the circular economy fund. Investors in the fund include AXA Investment Management, BNP Paribas Fortis and Philips, among others.

Sitra promotes our society’s transition to a circular economy, in which consumption is based on the use of services instead of ownership: sharing, renting and recycling. Last year, the World Economic Forum honoured Sitra as the world’s leading public sector driver of the circular economy in the Circulars Awards competition in Davos, Switzerland.

Source: www.sitra.fi

Photo: SITRA