Urmond, NL, 6-Mar-2007
DSM Venturing, the corporate venturing unit of Royal DSM N.V., today announced its participation in two venture capital funds, the Sherbrooke Health and Wellness Capital Fund II and the Emerald Sustainability Fund II. By participating in Sherbrooke DSM specifically creates a window on innovations in the emerging area of Health & Wellness. The investment in Emerald provides insight into White Biotechnology-related innovations, trends and markets in the US and Europe via the fund’s deal flow.
Health and Wellness is a market in which DSM is a leading player and which has been identified as one of the key growth areas in DSM’s corporate strategy program Vision 2010 – Building on Strengths. To maintain and further extend this position, DSM closely monitors consumer trends and market insights in this area. The investment in Sherbrooke supports DSM’s strategic goals in this area and is expected to generate significant returns for DSM.
The Emerald Sustainability Fund II targets the Cleantech sector, more specifically the investment areas Energy, Materials and Water/Agriculture. As White Biotechnology is one of the enabling technologies for the Cleantech sector, the activities of the fund have a strong overlap with DSM’s competences and strategic interest to grow its longer-term sales in the emerging business area of White Biotechnology, as outlined in Vision 2010. DSM’s participation in Emerald is expected to help accelerate DSM’s own innovations in the White Biotechnology area, by co-operating with small innovative companies, both directly and indirectly, via Emerald.
Sherbrooke Health and Wellness Capital Fund II
Sherbrooke Capital, based in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, invests in privately-held product, technology and service companies within the rapidly-growing Health and Wellness industry. The company's primary investment focus of healthy consumables encompasses functional foods and beverages, nutritional ingredient businesses, active lifestyle, and animal care and nutrition companies, and also includes healthcare services/education companies, food safety, and delivery systems companies. Sherbrooke investments include Immaculate Baking, Outside The Classroom, Vetcentric, Boathouse Sports and Transmedics.
Emerald Technology Ventures
Emerald Technology Ventures is a global leader in clean technology venture capital. Founded in 2000 under the name SAM Private Equity, Emerald is a pioneer in the rapidly emerging clean technology sector and is focused on innovative technologies in energy, materials and water. With sixteen team members in offices in Zurich (Switzerland) and Montreal (Canada), Emerald manages three venture capital funds and two venture capital portfolio mandates totaling over EUR 250 million. Investors include leading financial institutions and multinational corporations.
