According to a recent Dealroom report on the Spanish tech ecosystem, the combined enterprise value of Spanish startups surpassed €100 billion in 2023. In the latest confirmation of this upward trend, Madrid-based VC fund Seaya has closed Seaya Andromeda, an “Article 9” €300 million climate tech fund based in Madrid.
Article 9 refers to the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation Act, which requires investment firms to ensure their investments have a positive impact on society or the environment.
Seaya, established 12 years ago, focuses on mission-driven startups in Europe and Latin America. The new Andromeda fund will invest in growth companies specializing in energy transition, decarbonization, sustainable food value chains, and the circular economy.
The firm stated that the new climate fund will deploy between €7 million and €40 million as an initial investment, retain capital for follow-ons, and aims to make 25 investments by the end of 2027. So far, five investments have been made from the fund.
Seaya was launched in 2013 by former private equity investor Beatriz González, who transitioned to climate and sustainable investing after backing a recycled clothing line. She previously worked for Morgan Stanley, Excel Partners, and Darby Overseas Investments in the U.S. She later became a director of Telefónica’s pension fund, leading its alternative assets program.
Under González’s leadership, Seaya has invested in climate tech companies such as Biome Makers, Clarity.ai, Crowdfarming, Descartes, RatedPower, Samara, and Wallbox, an electric car charging stations company that went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.
In a recent interview, González discussed the advantages of having a climate tech fund based in Spain, given the country’s proximity to some of the worst effects of climate change, such as extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and storms.
“It’s a good question,” she said. “If you think about energy transition and decarbonization, coming from Southern Europe, particularly Spain, we do see that we are better suited for two reasons. One is because Southern Europe is experiencing more extreme heat waves, leading to greater social awareness. Additionally, we have competitive advantages in the industries we are targeting.
“We’ve been pioneers in renewable energy, so we have the talent and the big companies in auto parts manufacturing. We also have a substantial industrial base, particularly in agriculture and real estate. So, we believe that our industry expertise and talent in Southern Europe, especially in Spain, give us an advantage.”
When asked about their expertise in making deep tech investment decisions in climate tech, González mentioned, “We have a couple of engineers providing in-house expertise. Moreover, our LP network includes major European Union banks like Santander, which do project finance for energy and factories. Access to that knowledge helps us conduct due diligence and move much faster.”
So far, Seaya has used this knowledge to invest in several relevant companies. For example, Spain-based augmented-reality skill training solution Seabery developed AR software and hardware for training welders, significantly reducing carbon emissions.
Additionally, Seaya invested in U.K.-based AI-powered waste management startup Recycleye in February 2022, which builds robots to sort rubbish for recycling. In San Francisco, the firm invested in Pachama, a climate tech company that uses data to verify the quality of carbon credits and enable the launch of new carbon credit projects.
The news of the new fund follows other signs of the Southern European funding renaissance. Last week, Plus Partners launched in Barcelona, aiming to raise a $30 million to $50 million fund.
The annual “State of European Tech” report for 2023 also found Spain’s ecosystem to be in fourth place overall and noted it had the highest number of startup fundings last year.
