Ikea GreenTech, a corporate venturing unit of the Sweden-based homeware retailer, has published details of its latest investments.
It has invested and committed €12m ($15m) between 2010 and 2012 in four companies working with environmental technologies and a clean technology venture capital fund.
The companies are: Exibea (energy management, Sweden), BoFood (vegetarian food, Sweden), El-Seed (LED-technology, Japan), Alelion Batteries (energy storage, Sweden) and Mountain Cleantech Fund II. Christian Ehrenborg, managing director of IKEA GreenTech, will join the boards of Exibea and BoFood.
Ehrenborg, whose Ikea GreenTech manages €60m, said: “Our goal is to make investments that enable Ikea to offer innovative new products that help people to live a more sustainable life at home. After evaluating interesting ideas from over 700 companies, we selected the technologies which offer real potential in this area.”