With €2 billion of assets under management across all fund streams, nine IPOs and 33 trade sales, Earlybird VC is one of Europe’s most active venture capital firms.
Earlybird Health decided to supercharge its sustainability initiatives and implement further ESG practices in 2020 and the firm has fastidiously tracked its progress since then. So what guidance do its latest updates provide for VC governance?
The firm has prioritised addressing the well-known levels of underrepresentation that pervade executive roles within tech and investment. The percentage of board directors who identify as female across Earlybird Health's portfolio companies has increased from 28% in 2022 to 46% in 2023; they plan to ensure that 40% of investment teams and of portfolio companies’ management teams are female by 2030.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent an ambitious development agenda for people and the planet by 2030. Earlybird has identified five of these goals which will drive its ESG agenda: good health and well-being, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, responsible consumption and production and conscious partnerships.
The goals determine investment decisions, such as a collaboration with ClimatePartners to offset Earlybird’s 2023 carbon footprint with two new projects in Zambia and Laos.
They’re also realised by communicating ESG standards to portfolio companies and ensuring that they are met on an ongoing basis. The report notes particular improvements in governance, where companies have enacted new Code of Conduct and ESG, anti-bribery, and whistle-blowing policies.
The report noted that portfolio companies, Priothera and Oviva, had excelled regarding integration of ESG across their business strategy.
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