Sustainability-focused European asset manager Ambienta announced that it has raised €500 million (USD$586 million) for its new small cap strategy, aimed at investing in and growing “small cap environmental sustainability champions.”

The firm sad that the fund has surpassed its original €450 million target, driven by strong demand from its existing investors.

Laurent Donin de Rosière, Partner and Head of Investor Relations and Strategic Partnerships, said:

“At a time when others are retreating from sustainability, we are deepening our commitment with confidence. We firmly believe that companies driven by sustainability trends will continue to outperform. Our conviction remains as strong as ever and we would like to thank our investors for their continued trust in our ability to identify companies with advantages in resource efficiency and/or pollution control to deliver strong results.”

Founded in 2007, Ambienta invests in private and public companies driven by environmental megatrends, including companies with products and services that have a positive impact on the environment in areas such as resource efficiency and pollution control, which the firm says benefit from strong long-term competitive advantages and are more likely to deliver superior financial returns.

The new small cap strategy will invest in European companies with revenues of up to €150 million, targeting companies with business models and economic resilience underpinned by environmental sustainability trends. The firm said that the strategy will use its proprietary Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) tool, which quantitatively assesses how each investment contributes to environmental sustainability, as well as its ESG integration program, “ESG in Action.”

The new strategy will be by an investment team initially based out of Milan and Paris, headed by Ambienta Parter Francesco Lodrini, and two newly appointed Partners, Yann Bak, and Giacomo Forti. Ambienta said that it aims to expand the team over time to include professionals in all geographies where it has established offices.

Mauro Roversi, Founding Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Private Equity, said:

“The small cap strategy brings us back to our roots. Our early success was built on investing in small, primarily family-owned businesses – companies that under our ownership became powerful consolidation platforms, took significant steps towards internationalisation, or successfully transitioned into structured, professionally managed organizations. While Ambienta has grown and scaled its capital deployment, we continue to see significant investment opportunity among environmental champions in the lower end of the market, that equally support domestic economies, and which benefit from the long-term competitive advantage of environmental sustainability.”