Roca launches a fund to invest 25 million in 'startups'
The company joins Alantra to allocate between 500,000 euros and two million euros to fifteen emerging companies that allow it to innovate in the bathroom sector and incorporate new technologies and new sustainable materials
Roca Group, the leading Catalan multinational in the bathroom sector, joins the large corporations that are committed to creating their own venture capital instruments toto support the growth of startups that work on or provide new solutions in strategic business areas for the company. The so-calledcorporate venturehas become one of the main avenues that large companies findto access disruptive innovationand to talent. This is a formula that allows for early detection of new business models that may be of interest to corporations and, at the same time, benefits thestartups, since they are now accompanied by a partner who, in addition to economic resources, provides them withsmart money(advice and knowledge), offers them a testing ground and a customer base where they can implement their solutions. In this context, Roca Group Ventures was born, a fund endowed with 25 million euros that the company will invest in startups and entrepreneurship projects that develop their activity in one of these four areas of interest:wellness andsmart bathrooms; new businesses and materials; energy efficiency and rationalization of water consumption; and, finally, operational excellence in its industrial processes. To launch this fund, the Catalan family business has partnered with the financial advisory and asset management firm Alantra, which will identify investment opportunities and advise the company on the management of the portfolio of investees that will be built. The idea is to invest 25 million euros within a period of five years, instartupsnot only Spanish, but also from the global sphere.Each investment will range between 500,000 euros and 2 million euros, which will allow entry into the capital of between ten and fifteen companies.
"Roca Group Ventures seeks to generate a hybrid entrepreneurship model that combines the advantages of a large company (resources, scale, knowledge, experience, commercialization), with the innovation, technology, motivation, agility and talent of a startup," explained Albert Magrans, CEO of Roca Group, based on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona.
The fund will prioritize investment in those emerging companies that have a focus on environmentally friendly practices. Of interest will be startups that innovate in the bathroom sector and provide home automation technology, connected home, artificial intelligence (AI) and also new concepts to generate relaxation spaces. New sustainable materials will be another focus of Roca Ventures, along with energy efficiency, minimum water consumption, manufacturing with 3D printing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and applications that may arise from blockchain technology applied to the industrial sector.
With a turnover of 1,684 million euros in 2020, Roca Group is one of the largest Catalan industrial groups and the one with the greatest international presence, as it operates in 170 countries with a total of 84 factories, with more than 24,000 employees. The new corporate venture fund will be one of the pillars of the future Espai Roca, an innovation hub and urban macro-project that the company has designed to transform the entire industrial space it currently occupies between the municipalities of Gavà and Viladecans.
Add The New Barcelona Post as your preferred Google source for free
