Eurazeo draws on Asian support for $448m smart city fund

The final close shatters an initial target of EUR 150m that was in place until a second close of unspecified size in January last year, when it was extended to EUR 250m. A first close of EUR 80m came in early 2021

LPs include Banpu, Sansiri, and Siam Cement Group, all of Thailand, Jardine Matheson, and Korea Venture Investment Corporation, a government entity that had contributed USD 7.7m as of December.

There are at least three Singaporean investors: Momentum Ventures, a unit of public transport operator SMRT, power utility SP Group, and IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group, the parent of private equity firm Heritas Capital.

Last March, Heritas hit a first close of USD 20m on a USD 50m impact fund targeting systemic social issues including smart city themes such as recycling and food supply chains.

Smart City II Venture Fund targets new low-carbon economy, renewable energy, advanced mobility, property technology, logistics, advanced manufacturing, and deep technology. Europe will be the focus, although as of the first close, 40% of the fund was earmarked for Southeast Asia and China. This compares to an initially planned exposure of 30%.

Investments in the region to date include China-based green vehicle logistics fleet operator DST, Southeast Asia ride-hailing and services platform Grab, and Chinese autonomous driving technology developer WeRide. Grab went public in the US via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in late 2021.

Much of the strategy is underpinned by a climate agenda and the idea that smart cities reduce pollution, waste, energy, and water consumption while inducing positive change in urban and consumer behaviours. Eurazeo flags industry research suggesting cities consume 78% of the world's energy and produce more than 60% of the world's greenhouse gases

Fund I in the smart city series launched in 2016 and closed on EUR 137m with a largely corporate LP base that includes SP Group and Singapore’s Changi Airport Group. That fund was raised by France's Idinvest Partners, prior to its acquisition by Eurazeo.

Recent thematic fundraising by the GP otherwise includes the establishment of a USD 200m Southeast Asia-focused VC fund last year dedicated to insurance technology. The vehicle has a sole LP, an unidentified Europe-based insurance company.

“I’m starting to see more vertical-focused funds emerging in Southeast Asia recently,” Albert Shyy, a Singapore-based managing director at Eurazeo, told AVCJ at the time. “I think we’re going to see more of this in the region in the coming months and years, although maybe with smaller fund sizes.”

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• Topics
• Europe
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• Cleantech
• Singapore
• Asia
• Eurazeo
• renewable energy
• Transportation
• Real estate
• Logistics
• manufacturing
• deep-tech
• Impact investment