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How is private equity supporting Europe’s drive towards greater sustainability?

"We have the ability to be world leading in climate tech and in artificial intelligence. By investing in private companies, we could create great competitiveness in those businesses. We could even create world-leading businesses.”

One of my greatest passions as a woman and a woman of colour in the industry is a call to action to both investors and general partners to think about greater representation for women and minorities in their ecosystems.

There are lots of challenges that remain, such as diversity and carbon emissions. To help tackle these challenges, VC and private equity firms are incorporating sustainable investment principles, to prepare for a future that is more sustainable and more inclusive.

During this first leg of our new webinar series we covered the basics of AI from a private equity and venture capital perspective.

How does private equity and venture capital support European start-ups, helping to build global champions?

Private equity is delivering returns to millions of European pension holders every year: “Based on the Performance Benchmark Report compiled by Invest Europe, Europe has demonstrated solid performance across different segments. Venture capital, growth and buyout have been outperforming listed equities over the past 10 to 15 years.”

Why venture capital investment is vital to the growth and success of the European pharmaceuticals industry, which supports tens of millions of people every year through the development of new treatments.

Private equity and venture capital are sought after by long-term investors to deliver better pensions and returns for European citizens, while meeting bold social and environmental goals.

How does private equity support companies in challenging times? “The benefit of the private equity model is to really invest for growth.

“Private equity plays a very important role to make business more sustainable. It is the perfect ownership model to implement the right measures in terms of ESG. You as an owner determine the strategy of the business.”

“In Finland, private equity-backed companies are growing on average 6-7 times faster and creating >10 times more jobs than their peer group. It’s so much more than transactions – it’s value creation, growing people and growing companies.”

Invest Europe is the world’s largest association of private capital providers. We represent Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure investment firms, as well as their investors, including some of Europe’s largest pension funds and insurers.

“I see a great challenge in that many investors are still hesitating when it comes to integrating sustainability and ESG into their investments. I would like to see impact investing as a significant part of every long-term financial portfolio.”