The German firm attracted the support of Paul Grunow, co-founder of Solon and Q.Cells, as a cornerstone investor as well as finance from several family offices and institutional investors in closing the eCapital III Cleantech fund. The insurance company LVM Versicherungen also backed the venture with two funds.

According to an eCapital statement, the money was raised despite a ‘tough fundraising environment in Germany’. Managing partner Paul-Josef Patt comments: ‘Closing a venture fund that successfully during the current fundraising recession is truly remarkable.’

The close means eCapital now manages five funds totalling €120 million, which invest in technology companies, as well as in small and medium-sized companies in Germany.

eCapital III Cleantech will target both later and early-stage companies with an average investment of between €500,000 and €2.5 million. Fund managers aim to make a total of 15 investments in cleantech sectors such as water, energy, new materials and transport.

Investment companies will preferably be based in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. However, the statement says, ‘Investments in other countries are also possible’.

The fund has already invested in five companies including Novaled, a developer of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology and, eZelleron, a producer of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC).