Investment firm Horizon Capital has announced the first investment of its newly established Horizon Capital Catalyst Fund, created to support Ukraine’s recovery, by backing the financing of a 124 MW wind power project developed by Germany’s Notus Energy in Ukraine’s Odesa region. The transaction documents were signed on 20 January on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, marking both the fund’s inaugural deal and a practical validation of its investment strategy.
Under the transaction, the Catalyst Fund will acquire a 45% stake in the Notus Energy wind park. The project is expected to mobilise more than €220 million in total investment, including debt financing supported by international development institutions such as the EBRD, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Swedfund, Belgium’s BIO, and the Green for Growth Fund. The project is being developed by Notus Energy, a German renewable energy developer with a global portfolio of completed projects totalling approximately 1.6 GW in capacity.
The wind power plant in Odesa region will be the first of three Notus Energy wind projects in Ukraine with a combined capacity of around 300 MW and part of the company’s broader Ukrainian portfolio of over 1.3 GW at various stages of development. The facility is expected to generate approximately 378 GWh of electricity annually, enough to supply around 120,000 households. The project will also reduce CO₂ emissions by an estimated 244,000 tonnes per year, create more than 300 jobs during construction, and around 50 permanent jobs once operational.
The investment in the wind park was announced alongside the first interim closing of the Horizon Capital Catalyst Fund. Horizon Capital reported that the fund raised more than €150 million within six months, exceeding 50% of its €300 million target size. The first closing was supported by leading international institutional investors, including IFC, the EBRD, Proparco, Swedfund, Norfund, and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO).
The Catalyst Fund was established to address the shortage of private capital in strategically important sectors of Ukraine’s economy, including energy, digital infrastructure, construction, and selected industrial segments. The fund focuses on minority investments in partnership with leading international and Ukrainian investors, with ticket sizes ranging from €20 million to €50 million per transaction. Horizon Capital expects a multiplier effect of up to 10x, whereby fund investments act as a catalyst for attracting additional private and debt financing.
According to the company, the fund’s first four transactions, totalling approximately €110 million, are expected to mobilise over €1 billion in additional capital for Ukraine’s economy. Horizon Capital’s investment pipeline includes more than 30 potential projects, with the fund planning to invest in 8–10 companies. The overall objective of the Catalyst Fund is to mobilise up to €3 billion in investment for key sectors of the Ukrainian economy.
Horizon Capital Founder and CEO Olena Kosharna noted that the Catalyst Fund is the firm’s second Ukraine-focused fund launched since the start of the full-scale invasion, bringing the total amount of capital mobilised by Horizon Capital for Ukraine over the past decade to more than $1 billion. She added that the fund enables investment in capital- and labour-intensive sectors that account for more than 10% of Ukraine’s GDP and employ over 650,000 people, despite the continued limited access to private capital.
Horizon Capital manages more than $1.8 billion in assets and is one of the leading private equity firms in Central and Eastern Europe. Funds under its management have invested in over 190 companies employing more than 56,000 people. Horizon Capital announced the launch of the €300 million Catalyst Fund in summer 2025; the fund is registered in Luxembourg and is focused on Ukraine’s long-term recovery and economic growth.
