SWEN Blue Ocean 2 is the world's largest impact venture fund focused on the regeneration of ocean biodiversity
Investments will tackle three existential threats to ocean biodiversity – over-fishing, pollution and climate change
Significant investor appetite globally, raising 53% of fund target so far

London, 7th June 2025 – SWEN Capital Partners, a leading player in non-listed responsible investment and a pioneer in ocean sustainability investing, announces it has raised €160 million in the first close of its SWEN Blue Ocean 2 fund, to invest in innovative start-ups working to support the regeneration of ocean biodiversity. Targeting €300 million, the fund is positioned as the world's largest ocean impact venture fund. This compares to the €170 million raised by SWEN's inaugural Blue Ocean fund, demonstrating rising investor appetite and momentum.

The fund will invest in start-ups bringing solutions to help regenerate ocean biodiversity. Its investments will help tackle three existential threats affecting ocean biodiversity: over-fishing, pollution, and climate change . SWEN Blue Ocean 2 is an impact fund and has been classified as Article 9 under the European Union's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.

SWEN saw significant investor interest for SWEN Blue Ocean 2 from across the world, raising 53% of the target at first close. This includes strong demand among investors including institutional investors like pension funds, insurance companies, banks, and family offices. Notable LPs include EIF (European Investment Fund), France 2030, Bpifrance, Macif, Abeille Assurances, Matmut, Suravenir, Mutuelle de Poitiers and CPSTI (Conseil de la Protection Sociale des Travailleurs Indépendants).

Jérôme Delmas, CEO of SWEN Capital Partners, said: “The SWEN Blue Ocean strategy fully embodies the Mission we have set for ourselves: putting investment at the service of Nature. We are acutely aware of the responsibility we bear as investors, and of the role we can play by supporting high-impact projects with strong transformative potential — projects that can make a tangible contribution to the regeneration of marine biodiversity. This ambitious and innovative strategy could not have come to life without the expertise of our Blue Ocean team, nor without the trust of the investors who share our convictions and our determination to act without delay. Their commitment is essential to accelerate the deployment of concrete solutions in response to a challenge that is both systemic and urgent.”

Christian Lim, Co-Managing Director of SWEN Blue Ocean, said: “Our fund strategy remains more relevant than ever. Ocean action is growing in importance on the global stage, with the international community, governments and companies working together to prioritize ocean protection. The start-up ecosystem plays an important role in this effort, providing innovative solutions to transform massive industries at scale and at pace. We are excited to continue pioneering the next frontier of climate and biodiversity investment through our SWEN Blue Ocean 2 fund.”

Olivier Raybaud, Co-Managing Director of SWEN Blue Ocean, said: “Our strategy demonstrates the link between impact and highly competitive returns, which is an attractive proposition for investors. We have seen renewed interest from existing Blue Ocean investors and have also had many significant new investors commit to the Fund. With this latest fund, we will bring scale to a proven strategy, allowing us to take a lead role on more investments globally and support even more companies. ”

SWEN Blue Ocean Fund 2 will invest primarily in Series A funding rounds with a focus on companies in Europe. However, its scope to invest in the rest-of-the-world has increased since the first generation, with 30% of the fund's capital now able to be deployed outside of Europe, where SWEN Blue Ocean has identified a significant need for ocean biodiversity regeneration solutions. The larger fund size compared to Blue Ocean will also enable SWEN CP to take more lead positions at Series A stage, with the ability to write first tickets of up to €12 million.
Blue Ocean is fully allocated and has already returned significant capital to investors at a competitive rate of return*. The fund has exited two investments and has 18 portfolio companies.

To support the fundraise and fund deployment, SWEN CP has grown the SWEN Blue Ocean team to nine investment professionals with ambitions for further hires in the coming months. The team combines experience across investment, industry, science and policy.

Beyond its investment strategy, SWEN is also helping to build out the global innovation ecosystem for ocean regeneration, having co-founded '1000 Ocean Start-ups' in 2021, which has since grown to about 50 members. The coalition brings together incubators, accelerators, matching platforms and venture capital investors to scale at least 1000 transformative start-ups by 2031. In addition, SWEN Capital Partners is working alongside a number of other ocean sustainability organizations, including Ifremer, BlueInvest and ChangeNow..

* Past performance is no guarantee of future results