Impact investment fund Shift4Good is a Singapore and Paris-based sustainable mobility venture capital (VC) firm. The firm has attracted $98 million in the first close of its latest impact fund. 

The VC firm confirmed the development in a LinkedIn post, which said that investors in the first close include European Investment Fund (EIF), Renault Group, French sovereign fund Bpifrance, MOTUL, some mobility players from MOBILIANS, family offices, and entrepreneur-investors. 

The firm has a fundraising target of US$293 million, which it will invest in approximately thirty start-ups over the next five years in Series A and B, two-thirds in the European Union and one-third in the rest of the world, with a focus on Southeast Asia. 

According to the company, these investments aim to accelerate their development, enable them to become international champions, and thus contribute, through their innovations, to reduce the carbon footprint of the mobility sector. 

The firm said on its website that “we are sector-focused to be more impactful. We only invest in sustainable mobility opportunities or circular economy business when they intersect with mobility.” 

Shift4Good‘s focus materialized given that the transport of people and goods has a carbon impact of eight billion tonnes each year.

The firm is co-founded by Matthieu de Chanville, Sébastien Guillaud, Yann Marteil, and Thierry de Panafieu, four French investors with a background in venture capital and mobility. The firm is an independent French management company with offices in Paris and Singapore and is certified by the AMF. 

Shift4Good brings to entrepreneurs, with the most promising projects in the sustainable mobility sector, a bespoke and global solution to enable them to become world champions. 

Their expertise covers in-depth sector knowledge and financing coupled with tailor-made support and a collaborative ecosystem fully mobilized to respond to the climate emergency. 

According to Yann Marteil, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Shift4Good, “This closing allows us to launch our support programs for entrepreneurs committed to developing sustainable mobility solutions, making it possible to contribute to reversing the climate trend.” 

He also said that “the abundance and quality of the deal flow illustrate that there are bold and profitable solutions to offer sustainable mobility.”

Global impact investing is on an upward trend in more and more regions, and this is no different in Southeast Asia. For instance, ADB Ventures, the impact investment manager of the Asian Development Bank, is planning the first close of its $100 million second fund this year.