Marseille-Provence 2013 Capital of Culture programme observed that MP2013 seemed to have an over-representation of ‘high culture’. Marseille-Provence 2013 Marseille-Provence 2013 or MP2013 was the year-long series of cultural events that took place in Marseille, France and the surrounding area to celebrate the territory’s designation as the European Capital of Culture for 2013. In total, there were more than 900 different cultural events that attracted more 11 million visits. Marseille-Provence 2013 had an operating budget of approximately 100 million euros and more than 600 million euros in new cultural infrastructure was unveiled in 2013 including the MuCEM designed by Rudy Ricciotti and
Aster (venture capital company) European Investment Fund (EIF) contributed €20 million to the Aster fund. This investment gave Aster a total of €105 million. According to the business newspaper "Les Echos", this was the first investment by an institutional player in France's risk capital market . According to an assessment by the AFIC Cleantech Club fundraising barometer, Aster was the third largest French investment fund investing in cleantech companies in 2012. In January 2013, Aster invested in Building IQ, which specialises in energy efficiency software. In November 2013, after already being invested in EcoFactor's capital, Aster took part in a second round of fundraising