Singapore’s GIC ploughed more money into European startups than any other sovereign wealth fund globally in 2024.
The fund, which has $847bn in assets under management, backed just two European companies in 2024, German hydrogen startup Sunfire and Storegga, a UK startup developing carbon removal plants.
Despite the low deal count, GIC’s investment came to $1.9bn – the highest of any sovereign wealth fund, according to research consultancy Global SWF.
Canada Pension Plan, which invests state pensions, deployed the second largest amount, $1.6bn. It backed companies including HomeTree, a UK startup working on domestic energy tech, and Octopus Energy, a British energy supplier now valued at $9bn.
Temasek, another Singaporean state fund, made the most deals, backing five European companies in 2024 and deploying $622m in total. Companies backed by Temasek include Swedish heat pump startup Aira, British legal tech Robin AI and French healthtech Alan.
An uptick in European activity
Globally, sovereign wealth funds manage $13tn in assets, according to Global SWF. Just 18% of that is held in European funds — the largest regions for sovereign wealth are MENA, where 41% of global AUM is held, and Asia, which holds 34%.
2024 marked a slight return of sovereign wealth fund activity in Europe. According to data from Dealroom, sovereign wealth funds participated in 22 rounds involving European startups in 2024, up from 13 in 2023, but still far from the highs of 2021 and 2022.
Mubadala lessens European focus
Globally, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala topped deal-making in 2024, deploying $29bn. Mubadala took over the top spot from Saudi’s PIF, which slowed deal-making in 2024 to focus on investing domestically.
Mubadala increased its global deployment by 67% in 2024 compared to the year prior, according to Global SWF.
But that uptick was not felt in Europe, where the fund’s deal count fell to just four last year: speedy grocery company Flink, online pet store Firstvet, CMS service Storyblok and speedy grocery company Getir — a deal which saw Mubadala take control of the group’s Turkish operations. In total, Mubadala deployed $396m into European companies in 2024.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/singapore-gic-sovereign-wealth/
