South African energy conglomerate Sasol has announced that it has established Sasol Ventures to advance Sasol’s decarbonization and 2050 net zero ambitions through venture capital. It will invest €50 million over the next five years, making it the largest chemicals and industry venture capital fund in South Africa.
Sasol has partnered with Emerald Technology Ventures, a specialized global venture capital firm to enable Sasol Ventures to source and evaluate opportunities with the objective of growing a portfolio for the fund. Through this partnership, Sasol has also directly invested in Emerald’s global energy transformation fund to maximize its innovation opportunities. It will compliment Sasol’s existing Research and Technology capabilities in sourcing and evaluating technologies and solutions.
The fund will pursue investments in start-up and early-stage technologies that will enable Sasol to meet the need for sustainable chemicals and energy solutions to decarbonize its business, communities and markets it serves globally.
“We are very excited with the prospect of Sasol Ventures playing a key role in our decarbonization ambitions. As the world accelerates its energy systems towards more sustainable systems through emerging and disruptive technologies, Sasol Ventures places us in a position to access technology opportunities that will contribute to transforming our business,” said Fleetwood Grobler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sasol.
“Sasol Ventures is a new dynamic lever to our strategy to produce sustainable energy and chemicals products for a modern, thriving society. We look forward to leveraging our financial and intellectual capital through compelling and investable prospects that will create value for Sasol and our stakeholders,” added Hanré Rossouw, Group Chief Financial Officer of Sasol.
Sasol Ventures encourages start-ups and emerging entities to submit proposals to sasol@emerald.vc.