The Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) is today calling for investors from both the public and private markets to “catch the wave” of both opportunity and impact in the regenerative and sustainable blue economy as leaders convene at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting today in Antigua.

This comes as Outrigger Impact announced the launch of the Outrigger Impact Fund, a blended finance vehicle based in Luxembourg that is providing equity and debt financing to blue economy businesses in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The fund aims to build resilience to climate change and help close the estimated USD$10 billion annual global adaptation finance gap for islands by fostering a regenerative and sustainable ocean economy. The fund is targeting a total size of US$100 million, with a final close anticipated next year.

The fund is already backed by investors including the European Investment Bank, Nordic Development Fund, Builders Vision, and the Trafigura Foundation. It is designed to mobilise institutional capital into sectors that have traditionally been underserved by private investors. The fund combines a catalytic junior tranche, supported by development finance institutions and philanthropic partners, with a senior tranche designed for private investors seeking both financial returns and measurable impact outcomes.

Alongside the investment fund is the Outrigger Technical Assistance Facility (OTAF), which provides grants and concessional financing to help early-stage projects become investment-ready and to build a pipeline of investable opportunities. The multi-million-dollar OTAF is already supporting projects in the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. The OTAF is backed by ORRAA, the Global Environment Facility, the Nordic Development Fund and the United Kingdom’s Blue Planet Fund, which has contributed US$2.8 million, demonstrating the broad institutional support behind Outrigger.

The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, said:

“The ocean is a critical buffer against climate change, supporting food security, livelihoods and economic resilience, particularly for Small Island Developing States. Building this resilience requires not only more finance, but smarter finance that unlocks greater investment and impact. We need every pound or dollar to go further, which is why the UK Government’s Blue Planet Fund is supporting the Outrigger Technical Assistance Facility.”

Simon Dent, Managing Director, Outrigger Impact, said:

“Achieving the first close of the Outrigger Impact Fund is a major milestone in our ambition to support adaptation and resilience in Small Island Developing States. But the hard work really begins now. We have already started backing early-stage businesses through the OTAF and we are now ready to make the first investments through the fund. We are, of course, looking for more investment into the fund to move from first close to final close.”

Outrigger Impact was initially supported by ORRAA as part of its Sea Change Impact Financing Facility (SCIFF), its collaborative effort to develop an open ocean financing architecture designed to drive at least USD$1 billion of private investment into coastal and ocean ecosystems, with a focus on the Global South, by 2030. This will provide a springboard from which to mobilise at least USD$2.5 billion of broader finance capital.

Karen Sack, Executive Director of ORRAA, said:

“The launch of the Outrigger Impact Fund is a great first step to address the immense challenges faced by what we call Big Ocean States, particularly when it comes to mobilising investment into small and medium-sized enterprises. We are seeing significant commercial opportunities to back brilliant businesses, from ocean-based renewable energy to blue technology, and from infrastructure to nature-based solutions that are also regenerative and sustainable. But to catch this wave of opportunity we need more investors to come on board from across the capital stack – we need to double down to scale up.”

Source: Antigua News Room CHOGM: UK's Rt Hon Ed Miliband & ORRAA call for more funding for Small Island Developing States.