Positron’s Sustainabile Finance Disclosures
The short version
SFDR is an EU transparency law for investment funds. The idea is simple: if a fund says environmental or social considerations are part of how it invests, investors should be able to see exactly what that means, how those considerations affect investment decisions, and whether the fund actually does what it says.
Positron Ventures Coöperatief U.A. is an Article 8 fund under SFDR. That means we promote environmental and social characteristics as part of our investment approach, but we do not claim that every investment is a “sustainable investment” according to the EU’s technical definition of the term.
In practice:
• before we invest, we assess every prospective portfolio company against our investment themes (things we want to invest in), our exclusion rules (things we explicitly do not want to invest in) and our good-governance requirements (eg, labor and tax law adherence);
• we document that assessment as part of the investment decision;
• after investing, we review our portfolio companies regularly, including an annual ESG and governance review;
• once a year, we report to investors on whether the fund has actually met the commitments described here.
SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED DISCLOSURES
Financial product: Positron Ventures Coöperatief U.A.
SFDR classification: Article 8
Last updated: 16-09-2026
SUMMARY
Positron invests mainly in very early-stage European science and deep-tech companies. We promote environmental and social characteristics by looking for scientific breakthroughs that can help solve major environmental or health problems, applying binding exclusions, and checking good governance before we invest.
We assess prospective investments against four broad themes:
• More and cleaner energy: better ways to generate, store and transport affordable, low-carbon energy.
• Cleaner and more efficient production: ways to make things using substantially less energy and fewer resources.
• Cleaning up past pollution: technologies that address problems such as PFAS, plastics, CO₂ and methane.
• A productive and healthy population: technologies that prevent, diagnose or treat disease and improve health outcomes at reasonable cost.
Before investing, we assess how each company relates to these themes, whether any exclusions apply, material environmental or social risks, good governance and KYC/integrity risks, and we record the conclusions in our investment documentation. After investing, we review material ESG issues and governance annually through a company-specific checklist; our KYC Officer owns this monitoring process. We track three fund-level indicators covering exclusions, thematic assessment and good governance. Our formal minimum commitment for investments aligned with the promoted characteristics is 0% — a regulatory floor, not a target — and we make no minimum commitment to SFDR-defined sustainable investments. We use due-diligence records, company information and fund records for monitoring and reporting; where early-stage impact cannot yet be measured, we use credible milestones and clearly identify any estimates. We follow up material ESG issues with portfolio companies, and serious issues can affect follow-on investments or lead us to seek an exit.
Nederlandse samenvatting
Positron investeert voornamelijk in zeer vroege Europese science- en deeptechbedrijven. We bevorderen milieu- en sociale kenmerken door te zoeken naar wetenschappelijke doorbraken die grote milieu- of gezondheidsproblemen kunnen helpen oplossen, door bindende uitsluitingscriteria toe te passen en vóór een investering goed bestuur te beoordelen. We beoordelen potentiële investeringen aan de hand van vier brede thema’s: meer en schonere energie; schonere en efficiëntere productie; het opruimen van bestaande vervuiling; en een productieve en gezonde bevolking. Vóór een investering beoordelen we hoe een onderneming zich tot deze thema’s verhoudt, of uitsluitingen van toepassing zijn, welke materiële milieu- of sociale risico’s er zijn, hoe het bestuur is ingericht en welke KYC- of integriteitsrisico’s spelen. De conclusies worden vastgelegd in onze investeringsdocumentatie. Na de investering beoordelen we jaarlijks materiële ESG-kwesties en goed bestuur met een bedrijfsspecifieke checklist; onze KYC Officer is verantwoordelijk voor dit monitoringsproces. We volgen drie indicatoren op fondsniveau: naleving van de uitsluitingscriteria, beoordeling aan de hand van de vier thema’s en beoordeling van goed bestuur. Onze formele minimumtoezegging voor investeringen die zijn afgestemd op de bevorderde kenmerken is 0% — dit is een regelgevingsminimum en geen doelstelling — en we doen geen minimumtoezegging voor ‘duurzame beleggingen’ volgens de SFDR-definitie. Voor monitoring en rapportage gebruiken we informatie uit due diligence, informatie van portefeuillebedrijven en fondsadministratie; wanneer impact bij zeer vroege bedrijven nog niet zinvol kan worden gemeten, gebruiken we geloofwaardige mijlpalen en markeren we schattingen duidelijk. Materiële ESG-problemen volgen we op met het portefeuillebedrijf; ernstige problemen kunnen invloed hebben op vervolginvesteringen of ertoe leiden dat we een exit nastreven.
NO SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
This financial product promotes environmental or social characteristics, but does not have as its objective sustainable investment.
We expect and aim for our portfolio to have positive environmental or social impact. Under SFDR, “sustainable investment” is a specific legal category with additional tests. Positron does not commit to putting a minimum percentage of the fund into investments meeting that definition.
We believe that technology can create an abundant world with more prosperity from fewer resources. Our mission remains to assist the translation of outstanding European science into world-changing companies that get us there.
ENVIRONMENTAL OR SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FINANCIAL PRODUCT
The fund promotes environmental and social characteristics through the four themes above and through binding exclusions.
We do not invest in companies involved in prohibited weapons-related activities; the traditional fossil-fuel value chain; gambling; tobacco or distilled alcohol; illegal narcotics; certain illegal or restricted software activities; or prohibited illegal activities. Animal testing is only permitted where strictly necessary for medical research and follows the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement. Where a technology has a clear military or surveillance use, we require robust safeguards against misuse.
We also exclude companies involved in serious misconduct, including corruption, money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, human-rights abuse, forced or child labour, serious environmental misconduct, exploitative labour practices or unsafe working conditions.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Positron invests primarily in European deep-tech companies, generally at pre-seed and seed stage. Environmental and social considerations are part of the normal investment process.
Before an investment decision, we assess how the company relates to our investment themes, whether any exclusions apply, material environmental or social risks, good governance, and KYC/integrity risks. For good governance, we look at management structures, employee relations, remuneration and tax compliance. The conclusions are recorded in our investment documentation and reflected in the investment memo. We repeat the relevant assessment for follow-on investments if circumstances have changed.
PROPORTION OF INVESTMENTS
Our formal minimum commitment for the share of the fund aligned with the environmental or social characteristics described here is 0%. This is a regulatory floor, not a target or an estimate of what the portfolio will actually look like.
We also make no minimum commitment to SFDR-defined “sustainable” investments as explained above.
Our actual asset allocation is reported each year. Our portfolio exposure is generally through direct equity or equity-related investments in portfolio companies; we do not currently use other types of exposure to those companies. Cash and other temporary holdings used for liquidity, expenses, investments or distributions may sit outside the portion treated as aligned with the environmental or social characteristics.
MONITORING OF ENVIRONMENTAL OR SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
After investing, each portfolio company has a company-specific monitoring checklist. Through an annual discussion with company management and other information available to us, we review progress against relevant impact indicators or milestones, material changes to ESG risks, possible exclusion issues, and whether governance remains appropriate. If circumstances change materially, we update the assessment. Our ESG process owner is responsible for this annual monitoring process, checks that the required reviews are completed, and makes sure material issues are escalated.
For SFDR reporting, we track three fund-level indicators:
1. how many portfolio investments comply with our exclusion criteria;
2. how many portfolio investments were assessed against our four themes before investment; and
3. how many portfolio companies were assessed for good governance before investment.
METHODOLOGIES
For these three indicators, we check whether the required assessment or condition was completed for each relevant portfolio company and report the proportion of the portfolio covered.
Where useful, we also track company-specific impact indicators. Depending on the company and its stage, these may include greenhouse-gas emissions avoided, pollution removed or CO₂ captured, or improvements in health outcomes. At an early stage, realised impact may not yet be measurable, so we use credible milestones and progress rather than treating uncertain future impact as a measured result.
DATA SOURCES AND PROCESSING
Before investment, we use scientific and commercial due diligence, company materials, our investment memo, our pre-investment compliance checklist and our KYC records and screening platform. We cross-check material information against the records already available to us and resolve significant inconsistencies before relying on it.
After investment, we use information provided by portfolio companies, our ongoing work with management, annual CEO discussions, the company-specific post-investment checklist, existing due-diligence material and our own investment records. For annual fund-level figures, we use the fund's financial records and figures prepared or confirmed by our fund administrator/accountant. We combine these sources in our annual review and SFDR reporting. For the three fund-level indicators, 0% of the data are estimated because they record whether required checks were completed. Company-specific impact data may include estimates where actual data are not yet available; any such estimate is clearly identified and its basis is recorded.
LIMITATIONS TO METHODOLOGIES AND DATA
Most of our portfolio companies are very early-stage. They may not yet have a commercial product, employees, mature governance structures or years of environmental or social data.
We therefore do not treat missing early-stage data as evidence of either failure or positive impact. Where realised impact cannot yet be measured sensibly, we use qualitative or technical milestones and update the assessment as the company develops. These limitations do not stop us applying our binding exclusions, assessing companies against our themes, or checking good governance. For the EU Taxonomy — the EU system for classifying environmentally sustainable activities — we only report alignment where we have information that supports that conclusion.
DUE DILIGENCE
For every prospective portfolio company, our pre-investment process covers how the company relates to our environmental and health themes; whether the proposed impact is credible and could benefit a broad population; material environmental or social risks and trade-offs; whether any of our exclusions apply; military, surveillance or other dual-use risks; animal testing, GMO or cloning issues where relevant; management structures, employee relations, remuneration and tax compliance; and KYC and integrity checks.
Where an issue has already been properly assessed in the investment memo, due diligence or KYC records, we reference that work rather than duplicating it. Material findings, unresolved issues and required approvals are surfaced in the investment memo before the investment decision is made. Internally, the investment team reviews the conclusions before the investment decision, while the KYC Officer oversees the KYC and compliance checks; external screening tools and data sources support those checks where relevant.
ENGAGEMENT POLICIES
We work closely with many portfolio companies and raise environmental, social and governance issues where they matter. If we identify a problem, we follow it up with the company and try to get it corrected. If we suspect a breach of an activity- or conduct-based exclusion, we notify the company and ask it to remedy the issue.
Serious ESG issues can affect follow-on investment decisions. In the case of a serious deviation from our standards, we may decide to seek an exit through a secondary transaction. Our expectations are proportionate to the company’s stage.