Fact panel
| Investee: Neffa | Investor: Capricorn Industrial Biotech Fund |
|---|---|
| Sector: Biomaterials (environment) | Range of Investment tickets: <€1 million (€300k - 1 million) (first ticket) |
| Type of organisation: BV | Sector: Industrial Biotech |
| Yearly turn-over: N/A | Type of investor: Private investor |
| Type of investee: C | Type of investment: Equity |
| Country of investee: Netherlands | Expected return (of the fund): Above market return (>15% IRR) |
| Investment strategy: Sustainable investment | Specifics: Lead investor |
| Ticket size of the investment: Not disclosed | Some LPs: DSM Netherlands, ASR N.V., InnovationQuarter |
| Year of investment: 2024 |
The what: NEFFA, a C-type company
Problem addressed
The fashion, footwear, and interior design industries are facing a systemic sustainability crisis. Together, they are responsible for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, and pollution. These sectors operate largely on linear production models, producing, consuming, and discarding, with minimal reuse or circularity. This results in vast amounts of waste and short product life cycles that strain both the environment and available raw materials. Moreover, production has been increasingly outsourced to low-income countries, where weak regulatory oversight often leads to poor labor conditions. Workers are frequently subjected to unsafe environments, unfair wages, and limited rights, raising serious concerns about social justice and ethical sourcing.
Solution provided by Neffa
Neffa, founded in 2021 by Aniela Hoitink, is pioneering the future of sustainable production in fashion, footwear, and interior design. The company has developed next-generation biomaterials, addressing both the material production processes, as well as providing a sustainable solution at the end of the product lifecycle.
Neffa’s materials, engineered from mushroom mycelium serve as sustainable, high-performance alternatives to synthetic, petroleum-based, and traditional materials, they embody innovation and environmental responsibility. In addition to their ecological benefits, Neffa’s innovations empower designers with greater creative freedom, offering versatility in form, texture, and structure, while significantly reducing resource use and material waste through an automated, no-cutting, no-sewing process. Since its launch, Neffa has developed a portfolio of proprietary materials, while maturing the production technology. With the support of its seed-round investors, Neffa is now preparing to launch its solutions in cooperation with exciting brands.
The how: Capricorn Industrial Biotech Fund, an early-stage venture fund with a mission to create positive impact
General Presentation of Capricorn and CIBF
Capricorn Partners is a European investment firm specializing in growth capital for innovative, impact-driven companies in sectors such as clean technology, life sciences, and sustainable materials. With deep industry expertise and a strong network, Capricorn actively supports portfolio companies in scaling breakthrough solutions that contribute to a more sustainable and resilient economy. Capricorn Industrial Biotech Fund is an article 9 fund initiative started by DSM, InnovationQuarter and Capricorn Partners
Intentionality
The Capricorn Industrial Biotech Fund (CIBF) targets early-stage and pre-seed innovations in the Industrial Biotech sector across Northwestern Europe, with the specific aim of enabling decarbonization and circular economy. By investing in technologies that harness renewable raw materials, the fund supports technologies targeting the markets in nutritional ingredients, fibers and textiles, personal care, chemicals and industry enablers. Through this mission-driven approach, the fund seeks to contribute meaningfully to long-term environmental sustainability and industrial transformation.
Impact measurement and management
In line with its sustainability-driven mission, the fund embeds Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) throughout its investment cycle, from screening to portfolio management. As indicated in their ESG policy, Capricorn applies clear sustainability criteria (product-based exclusions, normative screening, and active ownership, …) and monitors environmental and societal outcomes alongside financial performance in their annual ESG report. Each investment is evaluated not only on its potential for innovation and growth, but also on its contribution to reducing emissions, improving resource efficiency, and enabling circularity.
Given Neffa’s early stage, CIBF takes an active role in helping the company build its capacity to measure and manage impact. This includes applying the Invest Europe ESG reporting framework tailored to companies of similar maturity. In addition, the fund has developed a dedicated Impact Dashboard for Neffa, incorporating qualitative key performance indicators (KPIs) such as:
Additionality
Capricorn Industrial Biotech Fund was instrumental in bringing the seed investment round together, allowing Neffa to pursue its mission. From a financial perspective, CIBF has taken the lead role in the funding round with the largest share of the current investment. Capricorn was the driving force in the negotiations to reach an agreement on equitable terms, aligning the investors and management on the long term success of the company.
On the non-financial side, CIBF is working with the other investors to support management in taking the necessary steps as the company scales. Together with the other investors in the consortium,
Capricorn brings its expertise and experience to reflect on strategic matters, funding strategy, governance and other matters.
More information
- Neffa
- Capricorn, Capricorn sustainability approach
