Ground Control launches £5m sustainability impact venture fund

A new £5m investment fund dedicated to sustainability and environmental initiatives has been launched by Ground Control

Ground Control devoting 5% of annual profits to the Evergreen Fund
Evergreen Fund dedicated to supporting environmental initiatives and carbon sequestration
New fund will provide seed and growth capital to selected start-ups and social enterprises

A new £5m investment fund dedicated to sustainability and environmental initiatives has been launched by Ground Control, the UK’s leading supplier of award-winning landscaping and maintenance services.

Financed by five percent of Ground Control’s annual profits, the Evergreen Fund will specialise in providing seed and growth capital to early stage companies and social enterprises that are focused on delivering measurable, beneficial and sustainable environmental impact.

Kim Morrish, Ground Control co-founder said:

As a company, we’ve always felt strongly about the environment so the launch of the Evergreen Fund is a milestone moment for Ground Control.

Launching the fund is a natural extension of our belief that business can and should be a force for good when it comes to environmental responsibility, especially during such a critical period for conservation and climate change.

What binds everyone involved in the Green Fund – our founders, co-investors and investees – is our belief in business as a force for good and our collective ability to affect positive change together.

From the very start, a passion for nature and commitment to sustainability has been central to what Ground Control does every day,” added Ground Control co-founder Simon Morrish.

Whether it’s moving to a fully electric fleet of vehicles or leading major tree planting schemes, we are dedicated to finding new and innovative ways to protect our environment. With the financial investment from Ground Control, we are now in a position to catalyse and amplify sustainability and carbon sequestration initiatives.

Over the next five years, the fund will:

Invest £5m in early stage environmental ventures
Become a perpetual investment facility with profits reinvested into new sustainable ventures
Dedicate £100,000 annually to finance the planning of one million new native trees to create protected areas of biodiversity

Investment criteria:

The Evergreen Fund will invest in entrepreneurs who have a clear vision of how to effect positive environmental change, combined with the experience, hard work and commitment to deliver
Applicants must be able to clearly display their positive, measurable and sustainable contribution; have a proven / sustainable business and revenue model; and demonstrate a competitive marketplace advantage and an opportunity / vision to scale
The fund will directly invest in Seed, Series A and higher but will avoid pre-seed or investments in fee-bearing funds
Investments will range in size from £10,000 to £500,000

Ventures must contribute to at least one of these measures of ‘positive environmental change’: