Boulder-based Vision Ridge closes $430M fund aimed at clean energy, sustainability

Investment firm Vision Ridge Partners announced Monday morning that the company has closed a $430 million fund aimed at later-stage clean energy companies and other businesses geared toward sustainability.

BizWest reported in 2014 that the Boulder-based firm led by Reuben Munger was seeking to raise up to $552.5 million for its Sustainable Asset Fund.

Vision Ridge, according to Monday’s announcement, launched the fund in partnership with Capricorn Investment Group and the Grantham Foundation for the protection of the Environment. Its portfolio will range from renewable energy companies to sustainable agriculture firms.

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Investments that are already part of the fund include:

• Clean Focus, a solar company developing and operating large projects in California, Massachussetts and other stats.

• GSSG, a solar company building utility-scale projects in Japan.

• SparkFund, a financial-tech company that finances energy efficiency projects.

• Vision Fleet, which enables electric vehicle penetration into corporate and government fleets.

“Our investments demonstrate that sustainable projects can make sense from a climate perspective as well as a financial perspective,” Munger said in a release. “Critical policy developments in 2015, like the Clan Power Plan and the Paris climate agreement, demonstrate opportunities in this sector are only going to grow in the short and long term. We believe that there are real opportunities to make money when we invest to solve our generation’s greatest challenge: climate change.”