![The State invests 5 million euros in Team for the Planet The State invests 5 million euros in Team for the Planet](https://media.lesechos.com/api/v1/images/view/6644e314e4905156594aa369/1280x720/01101081413114-web-tete.jpg)
Christophe Béchu wanted to mark the occasion. On the occasion of Ademe Investissement’s entry into the capital of Team for The Planet, to the tune of 5 million euros, the Minister of Ecological Transition made a point of making the trip on Thursday May 15. This investment is part of the 10 million euro funding round that the young company has just completed.
The minister will in fact announce this substantial support from the State from the premises of one of the subsidiaries of Team for the Planet: Leviathan Dynamics – which invented a way to produce cold with water, instead of HFC gases (hydrofluorocarbons) usually used.
Financing the ecological transition
“At a time when financing the ecological transition is at the heart of national discussions, we wanted to increase the private financing provided during this fundraising, to the tune of one euro for one euro,” explains the minister. This involves using public money to create leverage, and supporting the acceleration of innovations essential to achieving carbon neutrality. »
Team for the Planet (formerly Time for the Planet) was born in 2019 on the initiative of six entrepreneurs, keen to act in the face of the climate emergency. “We know that a very large part of sobriety will be necessary, but also innovation,” explains Arthur Auboeuf, one of the founders. However, there are already many innovations that just need to change scale, thanks to a suitable management team allowing them to structure themselves and raise funds: this is what we help them to do thanks to our network. »
The company – it is neither a fund nor an association – counts among its shareholders thousands of private investors (around 120,000) or companies (18,000), including volunteers who help it with the evaluation of files, for example. “Innovation must in particular have a significant impact on the climate, and be able to be made available as open source, thanks to patents to which we provide access: the objective is to deploy sectors as quickly as possible,” continues Arthur Auboeuf .
Besides Leviathan Dynamics, the company counts among its subsidiaries Cool Roof, whose white paint made from oyster shells, applied to roofs, significantly reduces the temperature of buildings. Or Beyond the sea, which offers ship traction systems by kite, using wind energy. Having raised 32 million euros (including the 10 million from the last round), Team for the Planet has invested in 14 innovations.
Climate dividends
If its subsidiaries are intended to be profitable, its great originality is to itself reinvest all of the dividends it receives. It remunerates its own shareholders with “climate dividends”, which it helped to create (with Ademe and Mirova, in particular).
Calculated from the tonnes of greenhouse gases avoided (at a dividend per tonne), these “climate dividends” make it possible to value the contribution of an investment to the climate (particularly in extra-financial information). “It’s an original model, in which we believe a lot,” insists Christophe Béchu. A concept already adopted by other companies, such as Decathlon.
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