In brief: Monaco’s SWF backs biodiversity fund

Ocean-focused venture fund managers may want to fish in Monaco’s waters. The European principality’s sovereign wealth fund, Fonds de Réserve Constitutionnel, has invested €10 million in a marine biodiversity venture fund from Ocean 14 Capital.

Ocean 14 is targeting €150 million for its first fund and held a first close at €80 million last December. Other investors include the European Investment Fund, Danish investment company Chr Augustinus Fabrikker, impact firm Builders Vision and the Minderoo Foundation. Ocean 14 was founded in 2020 by Max Gottschalk, founder of multifamily office Vedra Partners and climate impact fund HyCap, and George Duffield and Chris Gorell Barnes co-founders of the Blue Marine Foundation.

FRC is also an investor in Future Planet Capital’s €20 million Blue Ocean fund. The Monaco principality and its head of state, Albert II, are particularly engaged on ocean issues.