Press release
Released for publication on 11 October 2007 at 10.30 am

SITRA AND PROVIDER LAUNCH A NEW CLEANTECH VENTURE CAPITAL FUND

Climate change and rising energy and raw material prices are rapidly leading to a wider use of cleantech applications. This significant change has stirred a great
deal of interest among investors in cleantech and the new opportunities it provides. Sitra has set as its target to create a €100-160 million fund investing in Nordic cleantech enterprises.

- Launching of the cleantech fund is one of the major results of Sitra´s Environmental Programme, and the Nordic coverage is a great opportunity, emphasises Mr Esko Aho, President of Sitra. Sitra's partner in establishing the fund is Provider Venture Partners AB, a leading Swedish venture capital firm. Sitra and Provider's joint goal is to create a Nordic venture capital fund initially based in Finland and Sweden through which Sitra together with other fund investors will continue its investment activities in the cleantech sector.

- Sweden and Finland as well as the other Nordic countries enjoy a strong reputation in environmental affairs and know-how, says Johan Hernmarck, Chairman of Provider Venture Partners.

Nordic countries will together be able to offer an extensive and interesting company base for venture capital and growth in cleantech and internationalisation. The total number of
potential cleantech companies in the Nordic countries is over 2000. An important part of the preparatory work has been to build an extensive proprietary database of more than 1000
cleantech companies in Sweden and Finland.

Investments in cleantech have shown substantial growth globally in the past few years. This development has been venture capital driven. In the United States, cleantech is currently the third most significant sector for venture capital, and the same trend is evident in Europe. This reflects the interest of institutional investors in environmental matters and cleantech.

- Environmental and, more generally, social responsibility are clearly becoming a part of the investment policies of notable institutions, says Jukka Noponen, Executive Director of Sitra's Environmental Programme.

Interest in the field is now also spreading to publicly listed shares. World stock exchanges list hundreds of cleantech companies, and their overall development in share value has been very positive. The number of listed cleantech companies is also on a definite increase, and several successful listings have attracted further interest. In addition, various share indexes
focusing on these technologies have emerged in the market, a clear sign that cleantech is becoming a mainstream investment target.

Further information

Sitra:
Jukka Noponen, Executive Director,
tel. +358 9 6189 9430, +358 40 5987 4323,
email jukka.noponen@sitra.fi

Heikki Ojanperä, Director,
tel. +358 9 6189 9265, +358 50 537 9169,
email heikki.ojanpera@sitra.fi

Provider Venture Partners AB:
Johan Hernmarck, Chairman, tel. +46 70 520 6060.

Cleantech

Cleantech refers to technologies that help save the environment, energy and natural resources. Global demand for cleantech products is on a steep rise. The increase in demand
results from issues such as climate change, the rise in the price of energy and raw materials, tightening environmental laws and concern with energy procurement security. Favourable development in demand and the improved availability of technologies is reflected in the share prices of listed cleantech companies and increased investments in the field.

Sitra

Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, is an independent public fund under the supervision of the Finnish Parliament. Sitra's duty is to promote stable and balanced development in Finland, the qualitative and quantitative growth of its economy and its international competitiveness and co-operation. Sitra's operations have been focused into fixed-period programmes. The programmes utilise a wide array of methods, including corporate funding. The venture capital portfolio contains appr. 65 direct investments and 35 fund investments with total invested capital of 250 million euros. Sitra's operations are funded with the return from endowment capital and returns from direct and fund investments.
www.sitra.fi

Provider

Provider Venture Partners AB is a leading Nordic Venture Capital firm focusing on accelerating growth in early and expansion stage technology companies in the Nordic region. Provider Venture Partners AB advises four different investment funds with more than SEK 3 billion in total under management. Provider's team consists of 14 employees and 5 senior advisors with extensive operational and investment experience. The firm currently manages 27 portfolio companies in the areas of communication technologies, software/solutions, Internet, services and media. They stand among the leaders in the
Nordic Venture Capital market in completing successful exits.
www.providerventure.com

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