Ship2B Ventures, a leading social impact venture capital manager in Spain, has announced the launch of BSocial Impact Fund II, the largest social impact venture capital fund in the country, with a target size of €80 million. With this first close of €65 million, the manager now exceeds €120 million in assets under management. The new vehicle will invest in startups that improve the quality of life of vulnerable groups and the elderly, or that contribute to the decarbonisation of key industrial sectors and to ecosystem regeneration.
The first close of the new vehicle once again includes the support of the European Investment Fund (EIF), the manager’s first investor and the anchor investor for this fund, together with Axis (ICO Group) and Banco Sabadell, the main private investor in BSIF I and a key investor for Ship2B Ventures. New investors such as VidaCaixa, the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) and several leading Spanish family offices have also joined. Soon, COFIDES is expected to join through the Social Impact Fund (FIS), with its investment commitment subject to the signing of the corresponding legal documentation, and Barcelona City Council through the Barcelona Investment Fund, will join shortly. This strong investor commitment underscores a management model that combines financial returns with measurable impact, demonstrating that impact investing is a solid and sustainable alternative within the financial markets.
The EIF’s investment has been made possible through InvestEU, the European Union programme designed to mobilise more than €372 billion in investment by 2027, specifically through its Social Impact Equity product.
BSocial Impact Fund II incorporates a blended finance structure, pioneering in the Spanish market, combining institutional capital with investment-protection mechanisms —such as first-loss coverage— and technical assistance to strengthen the strategic development of portfolio companies, both provided by the Social Impact Fund managed by COFIDES. This first-loss tranche has acted as key catalytic capital to attract new private investors.
The launch of this new fund takes place during the 12th edition of the Ship2B Impact Forum, held on 17–18 November in Barcelona, once again positioning the city as the capital of the impact economy. The event brings together more than 500 leaders from business, finance, philanthropy and the public sector to analyse and address major social and environmental challenges.
A consolidated track record
This launch marks the beginning of a new stage of consolidation and specialisation for the manager, positioning it as a European benchmark in combining purpose with profitability. The Ship2B Ventures strategy is built on a triple return —social, environmental and financial— demonstrating that impact and market-rate returns are compatible and mutually reinforcing. One of the manager’s core objectives is to maximise economic potential and investor returns. In this regard, its previous fund, BSocial Impact Fund I, reached its hard cap of EUR 55 million and holds a portfolio of more than 30 companies, with highly notable success stories such as Qida, Ocean Ecostructures and 011H, among others, which are achieving outstanding growth rates.
Ship2B Ventures is also taking a further step by adopting a systemic investment approach, an evolution of traditional impact investing that seeks to address the structural root causes of major social and environmental challenges.
About Ship2B Ventures
Ship2B Ventures invests in early-stage startups delivering high social and/or environmental impact by improving the health and quality of life of vulnerable populations and contributing to environmental sustainability and conservation.
The fund targets early-stage companies whose teams are committed to and experienced in impact-driven business models, bringing innovation and disruptive technologies, and demonstrating scalable business plans with a global outlook.
More information: www.ship2bventures.com
About the European Investment Fund
The EIF is part of the EIB Group. Its central mission is to support Europe’s microenterprises and SMEs by helping them to access finance. The EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments that specifically target this market segment. In this role, it contributes to the achievement of key EU policy goals such as competitiveness and growth, innovation and digitalisation, social impact, skills and human capital, climate action and environmental sustainability.
About Cofides
COFIDES is a state-owned company that manages State financial funds, as well as its own resources and those of third-party institutions. Its mandates include supporting the internationalisation of the Spanish economy, attracting foreign investment into strategic sectors in Spain, promoting the impact economy in Spain and contributing to the development of the countries where it invests. Its shareholder base includes the Spanish State, as majority shareholder, together with Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Sabadell and CAF–Development Bank of Latin America.
About the Social Impact Fund (FIS)
The FIS is a fund created by the Government through the addendum to the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR). It is financed by the NextGenerationEU instrument. This public financial vehicle—managed by COFIDES and attached to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration—has a budget of EUR 400 million and provides financial support to projects that are financially sustainable and address unmet social and environmental challenges, while also mobilising additional private capital.
About Axis
Axis operates through a public–private collaboration model with the venture capital industry across all activity areas. It currently manages commitments of up to EUR 12.15 billion, enabling the joint mobilisation of more than EUR 24 billion in public and private resources, depending on the private sector’s absorption capacity and project execution.
About VidaCaixa
VidaCaixa designs, manages and distributes life insurance and pension plans for individual and corporate clients. As the successor to the insurance and social welfare activity of the Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez y de Ahorros, it brings more than 100 years of history helping people prepare for retirement and protect their financial wellbeing. The company, which leads the Spanish life insurance and pensions market and pays out nearly EUR 5 billion in benefits each year, is wholly owned by CaixaBank. It holds 49.92% of SegurCaixa Adeslas and 100% of BPI Vida e Pensões.
About InvestEU
The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with essential long-term financing by mobilising significant private and public capital to support a sustainable recovery. It also boosts private investment aligned with EU policy priorities, including the European Green Deal and the digital transition. InvestEU consolidates under one framework the various EU financial instruments available to support investment in Member States, making project financing in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible.
The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is deployed through financial partners that invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of EUR 26.2 billion. The full guarantee supports partners’ investment activities, enhances their risk-taking capacity and aims to mobilise at least EUR 372 billion in additional investment.
About the Institut Català de Finances (ICF)
The Institut Català de Finances (ICF) is the public development bank of the Government of Catalonia. Its main mission is to drive the growth of companies and other entities. It finances relevant and transformative projects through loans and equity, with a particular focus on the green transition, reindustrialisation and social housing.
The ICF often complements private-sector financing, offering long repayment terms to facilitate debt service.
Since 2014, it has been a member of the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB), which brings together most public banks and financial institutions operating in Europe.
More information: www.icf.cat
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